National
5 years ago

Thousands become Patuakhali town voters, without any knowledge

A representational image/Collected
A representational image/Collected

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Last year, two local men came to her house. They took her national ID card saying they will use it to arrange relief goods for her. They later returned the ID to her.

But when Sabitri went to vote in the December 30 national election, she was surprised. She did not find her name in the voter list at Madarbunia Government Primary High School, her regular polling centre. Her husband Kaluchandra Dhupi was still a voter of that centre.

When she tried to find out what happened, Sabitri realised that she as a voter has been shifted to South Arambagh Shahpara in Ward-4 of the Patuakhali Municipality.

“But I have never been to Shahpara. I live in the village and don’t even know that place. How did I become a voter there?”

Like Sabitri, more than 3,000 people from Kamlapur, Awaliapur, Madarbunia, Laukathi and Moukaran Union in Patuakhali Sadar Upazila have become voters of different municipality wards without knowledge.

Their addresses were changed between January 2016 to March 2018, said Khalid Bin Rouf, election officer at Sadar Upazila.

Kamlapur Union Council Chairman Abdus Salam said thousands of voters in five wards of his jurisdiction have been migrated. It might have a connection to the upcoming municipality polls, he said.

The Election Commission had announced February 28 as voting day for municipal polls in Patuakhali, but on February 14 the High Court stayed the election after hearing petitions filed over demarcation. 

One of the contestants of the upcoming election may be responsible for listing villagers as town voters, said Chairman Abdus Salam.

WHO IS THE MASTERMIND?

In most cases, the offenders targeted poor village women by lying to them about arranging relief, it was found after speaking to voters in different villages of the Sadar Upazila.

The voters were not notified when their addresses were changed on official document. The victims are now being deprived of old-age allowance, poverty allowance, widow allowance, VGD and other help from their Union Parishad, since they are no longer voters there officially.

The villagers have so far identified locals Reaz Uddin Mamun, Kabir Fakir, and Belal Fakir for being behind the fraud. 

Mamun hails from Awaliapur village. Kabir and Belal, who are siblings, hail from North Hajikhali in Madarbunia Union, the locals said. 

Mamun was once affiliated to Chhatra League’s district wing, said Rezaul Haque Reza, former president of the ruling Awami League’s student wing in Patuakhali.

The three men work for contractor firm Messer’s Mohiuddin Ahmed. It is owned by Mohiuddin Ahmed, a mayoral candidate in Patuakhali Municipal Corporation election, locals said.

Mohiuddin was a member of the Awami League’s committee in the municipality but was expelled for defying party decision and becoming a rebel candidate, said Tarikuzzaman Moni, central Upazila Parishad chairman and president of the municipal wing of the Awami League.

Dr Shafiqul Islam, who has been serving as municipality mayor since 2011, has failed to bag the party nomination. An organising secretary of Awami League in the district, he has emerged as an independent candidate.

The ruling party gave its ticket to Kazi Alamgir, the acting general secretary of its wing in Patuakhali.

The nominations of Abdur Rahman from the Islami Oikya Jote and independent candidate Moshtaq Ahmed Pinu legal were announced by the Election Commission.

“I don’t want to name anyone but a mayoral candidate has committed this fraud to influence the polls. You’ll realise this if you speak to the voters in those unions,” Kazi Alamgir said.

Independent candidate Mohiuddin Ahmed is a resident of Kamlapur Union, one of the five unions from where voters were migrated.

“Are you telling me it’s possible to change the address of more than 3,000 voters? Is it child’s play? How is that possible? I would have run in the MP election if I was able to pull off such a thing,” Mohiuddin said, denying any connection to the incident.

He claimed that he did not know Mamun or Belal, who took the NID cards from the villagers. He said a man named Kabir works in his office, but he is not aware of his employee’s connection to the matter, said Ahmed. 

Mohiuddin blamed his rival, the incumbent mayor Dr Shafiqul Islam, when asked who could be responsible for the fraud. 

“He is spreading false propaganda against me because he doesn’t want to leave office. But people want change,” he said.

Shafiqul denied the allegation and called Mohiuddin “the mastermind” behind the incident. “I was elected with large amount of votes in the last election. I have a huge vote bank. Mohiuddin did all this to compete with me,” he said.

“It would have made sense if I had moved voters from Jainkathi Union, which is my village home. If I had really done this, why would I pick Mohiuddin’s area Kamlapur, said Dr Shafiq.

WHAT DO THE VOTERS SAY?

The addresses of at least 12 of Sabitri’s neighbours were changed using the same method.

Her neighbour Maya Rani was made a voter of Shahpara and another neighbour Parul Bala’s new voter address was at Sabujbag.

“At least 1,042 voters of my ward now have town addresses,” Nasir Uddin Chowdhury, a member of the Kamlapur Union Parishad, said.

Md Salam Mridha, member of Ward-3 in Madarbunia Union Parishad was experiencing the same problem with 200 voters in his area.

“I called the election officer the moment I found out. I wanted them to fix the papers. But that was the time of the national election. Now you have the upazila and municipal election. So apparently they can’t fix it now.”

A man called Mamun had taken the NID card from Hamida Begum, a widow living in Awaliapur Union.

“The union member said that my name was shifted to the municipality when I went to collect my widow allowance. I asked Mamun why did this happen and he paid me Tk 500 and asked me to stay quiet.”

Reaz Uddin Mamun, Kabir Fakir and Belal Fakir are in Dhaka at present, said the locals.

When contacted, Mamun claimed Hamida was re-enlisted as a voter of Awaliapur. When asked how it happened, he disconnected the phone saying: “I’m busy”.

Kabir Fakir also disconnected his phone when he asked about the issue.

WHAT SAY ELECTION AUTHORITIES?

To change address or to migrate, a voter has to submit an application with a recommendation from the local ward councillor and voter ID card, Khalid Bin Rouf, election officer in the Sadar Upazila of Patukhali said.

Official documents showed that 3,669 voters from different parts of central Patuakhali changed their address to the municipal town between January 2016 to March 6, 2018, he said.

The election officer was quoted by bdnews24.com as saying, “They applied with the right papers. They were migrated after proper scrutiny of those applications. I’m not aware of anything that has happened behind my back.” Any trouble can be settled legally.”

But the proper system of shifting voters include signatures and has not been followed in these cases, said Nezamul Haque, panel mayor of Patuakhali Municipal Corporation.   

“I am a new official here. The officer assigned for the Upazila election will be the right person to comment on the issue,” Ziaur Rahman Khalifa, district election officer, said.

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