Dhaka, Feb 14 (.) As Bangladesh concluded its much-watched and anticipated historic twin-polls on both its 13th parliamentary elections and July Charter referendum, the Election Commission of Bangladesh releasing two separate turnout figures, revealed an overwhelming majority vote for the “Yes” camp.
However, despite the overwhelming majority, there have been many reported narrow, but notable statistical discrepancies in the twin exercises, which notably complicate the vote, according to Business Standard BD.
According to Election Commission data, the total voter base across the 13th National Parliamentary Election and Referendum stood at 12.77 crore. Of these, 4.81 crore cast “Yes” votes (62.47%), 2.26 crore cast “No” (29.32%) votes, while 74.02 lakh ballots were declared invalid or cancelled.
With an overwhelming “Yes” majority for the referendum, Bangladesh’s constitutional nature may potentially take off on a new path, as the charter – while loosely defined – called for several core reforms in the national constitution.
This includes a shift from the original tenets of nation building proposed by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, with some fears being that the new constitutional amendments may very well lead the country to become an Islamic theocracy, due to its removal of the secular clause.
The referendum turnout (60.26%) was slightly higher than the parliamentary election turnout (59.44%) because it included results from all 299 constituencies where polling occurred.
Attributing the difference to legal factors, the EC noted that while polling was held in 299 constituencies for both exercises, parliamentary results in two seats, including Chattogram-2 and Chattogram-4, were withheld due to pending court cases, leading to results from only 297.
In contrast, the referendum figures, however, incorporated all 299 constituencies, marginally boosting its national turnout percentage.
Despite the commission’s assertion that the gap is procedural, a series of severe numerical inconsistencies in constituency-level data has raised serious concerns about the accuracy and integrity of the reported referendum results.
The most striking anomaly emerged in Rajshahi-4. Initial data showed an impossible turnout of 244.3%. With 319,909 registered voters in the constituency, the official tally listed 781,523 votes – including 612,229 for “No” and 145,382 for “Yes.” The figures far exceeded the total voter roll.
Following widespread scrutiny, the commission revised the data. The updated sheet listed 206,611 valid votes, comprising 145,382 “Yes” votes and 61,229 “No” votes, and recalculated turnout at 72.059%.
However, the revision addressed only part of the controversy, as no explanation was provided for how such extreme discrepancies initially appeared in official results.
Other baffling irregularities were recorded in Sirajganj-1, where referendum turnout was listed at just 7.899%, though somehow a 60.83% participation rate was reported in the concurrent parliamentary vote in the same constituency.
The dramatic difference between two ballots cast simultaneously by the same electorate has led to increasing allegations of manipulation in data entries, tabulation procedures, and reporting mechanisms, casting increasing doubts over their credibility.
While the commission has revised select figures, the absence of comprehensive corrections or detailed explanations for the numerical inconsistencies has intensified scrutiny, with questions continuing to mount regarding data verification procedures and the reliability of the final referendum results.
The most persistent discrepancies, however, remain in Netrokona-3, Netrokona-4, and Netrokona-5. In Netrokona-3, 502,438 “Yes” votes were recorded – exceeding the constituency’s 420,686 registered voters by 81,752.
Yet the total votes cast were simultaneously listed as 238,358, implying a turnout of 56.659%. The internal contradiction – where votes for one option exceed both the voter roll and the total ballots cast – has yet to be corrected in subsequent updates, leading to accusations of electoral engineering.
Similar inconsistencies were reported in Netrokona-4 and Netrokona-5, where vote counts also exceeded the number of registered voters. Despite revising the Rajshahi-4 data, the commission left the Netrokona figures unchanged, and the overall national referendum totals were not adjusted.
Nationwide, the referendum officially recorded 48,074,429 “Yes” votes and 22,565,627 “No” votes, producing the reported 60.26% turnout.
Although the “Yes” camp secured majorities in most constituencies, 11 seats recorded a “No” majority. In the three constituencies of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, voters rejected the proposal.
In Khagrachhari, 155,942 “No” votes surpassed 144,355 “Yes” votes. In Rangamati, the “No” lead reached 108,106 votes, while in Bandarban the margin stood at 18,739 in favour of “No.”
Similarly, Gopalganj also registered decisive opposition across its three constituencies. In Gopalganj-1, “No” received 128,298 votes against 54,716 for “Yes.”
In Gopalganj-2, the count stood at 107,290 to 34,302, and in Gopalganj-3, 93,368 to 33,498. Other constituencies where “No” prevailed included Rajshahi-4, Jhenaidah-1, Sunamganj-2, Chattogram-8, and Chattogram-12.
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