21 killed in clashes as oppn boycotts polls

• Low turnout witnessed in the elections
• Fearing violence voters preferred to stay home
• Counting of votes began shortly after 4 pm
• BNP chief Khaleda Zia called for boycott of polls
• US disappointed by non-participation of parties

Dhaka : The ruling Awami League was on Sunday poised to win Bangladesh's general election marred by deadly clashes, a low turnout and a boycott by opposition parties, even as 21 people were killed in poll-related violence.

Most voters preferred to stay at home fearing violence during the polling in 147 out of 300 constituencies in 59 districts. Candidates in other constituencies would be declared elected unopposed due to the boycott, officials said.

He said there were incidents of snatching and torching of ballot papers and boxes in some polling centres. Counting of votes began shortly after balloting ended at 4 pm.

A total of 390 candidates, mostly from the Awami League and its ally Jatiya Party, contested from 147 seats where the number of voters was nearly 44 million. Deadly violence flared across the country despite tens of thousands of security personnel deployed to maintain law and order.

Protesters hurled crude bombs at polling centres and stole ballot papers during the "one-sided" contest boycotted by the 18-party opposition alliance led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). The Awami League is all set for a sweeping victory.

Police said 16 people, mostly opposition cadres, and a security personnel were killed on Sunday after the overnight deaths of an election officer and two others. The Election Commission is yet to announce the turnout. "Voter turnout will be low because some parties are not contesting," Chief Election Commissioner Rakibuddin Ahmed told the media. He, however, claimed the polls were "fair".

Voting was suspended at 160 centres due to torching of booths and snatching of ballot boxes and papers. Opposition activists set over 200 polling stations on fire. The BNP-led opposition had demanded postponement of the polls and setting up of a non-party caretaker government, but Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina rejected the demands. Political violence during strikes enforced by the opposition since November have left over 150 people dead.

Rejecting the opposition's demands, Hasina insisted that the vote will go ahead as planned. However, she said she would be willing to dissolve the new parliament after the polls and hold fresh elections if the BNP gives up violence and cuts its ties with the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami. The counting of votes started soon after polling ended at 4 pm (local time). Earlier, BNP chief Khaleda Zia and her exiled son, party senior vice chairman Tarique Rahman, separately issued calls to boycott the polls. "No one at home and abroad will recognise it as election and through this the Awami League government will appear anew as an illegal structure," Zia had said. The former prime minister described the polls as a "stigmatised farce". BNP also declared another 48 hour strike beginning from Monday. Zia has been virtually under house arrest since late last month, with no one allowed to either enter or exit her Dhaka residence that has been encircled by security forces. There were no observers for the election from the European Union, the US and the UK, which described the polls as flawed without the participation of the opposition. State Department deputy spokesperson Marie Harf said the US was "disappointed" by the non-participation of major political parties. India, closely watching political developments in the neighbouring country, has expressed hope that the people of Bangladesh would overcome their differences through peaceful means. A similar poll in 1996, boycotted by the then opposition Awami League, witnessed a mere 7 per cent turnout and forced Zia-led BNP government to call for fresh polls within months under a neutral non-party caretaker system.

India, closely watching political developments in the neighbouring country, has expressed hope that the people of Bangladesh would overcome their differences through peaceful means.