The returning officer for the just held Kapasia by-poll has rejected all allegations of irregularities raised by the two defeated candidates.
He said no evidence was found in support of the allegations by independent candidate Afsaruddin Ahmad and Communist Party of Bangladesh backed Asadullah Badal, who were beaten by Awami League backed Simin Hossain Rimi by a huge margin.
“None of the 86 polling agents who worked for Afsaruddin Ahmad in the 102 voting centres did raise any allegations of irregularities in the voting,” Mihir Sarwar Morshed, the returning officer, told The Daily Star on Wednesday.
In his written allegations, Afsaruddin, also uncle of Rimi, said the ruling party cadres, especially Bangladesh Chhatra League activists, wearing police uniforms threatened the voters favouring him and polling agents not to come to the polling stations.
He also termed the September 30 election stage managed.
Refuting his claims, Mihir said several election monitoring and observer teams deployed by the Election Commission did not find any major flaws in the election, the first poll under the new EC.
Though CPB-backed Asadullah rejected the election, he did not cite any specific allegation of irregularities.
Rimi tallied 63,401 votes, while Afsaruddin and Asadullah received 26,349 and 1,428 votes respectively. The defeated candidates rejected the election 10-15 minutes before the voting ended at 4:00pm.