62% 'Yes' victory shadowed by impossible turnouts and overvotes

The nationwide referendum on the July National Charter 2025 reportedly concluded with a decisive majority, with 62.47% of votes cast in favour of "Yes" against 29.32% for "No." 

Yet a detailed review of the Election Commission's official figures by The Business Standard uncovers widespread statistical irregularities that complicate the narrative of victory.

While the "Yes" camp claimed most constituencies, 11 seats recorded a "No" majority, and severe inconsistencies in the underlying data have raised pressing questions about the accuracy of the reported results.

The most glaring anomaly appeared in Rajshahi-4, where voter turnout had been initially recorded at an impossible 244.3%. With 319,909 registered voters, the official tally listed 781,523 votes – 612,229 for "No" and 145,382 for "Yes." 

The authorities later updated the figures, listing the number of valid votes as 206,611, with the number of "Yes" votes at 145,382 and "No" votes at 61,229. 

A similarly perplexing case emerged in Sirajganj-1, where referendum turnout plunged to just 7.899%, despite a 60.83% participation rate in the concurrent parliamentary election. 

Discrepancies were even more pronounced in Netrokona-3, 4, and 5, suggesting systemic misreporting. In Netrokona-3, 502,438 votes were recorded for "Yes" – exceeding the constituency's 420,686 registered voters by 81,752 – while the total votes cast were listed as 238,358, implying a turnout of only 56.659%. Similar inconsistencies appeared in Netrokona-4 and 5, casting doubt on the reliability of regional results.

Although the commission revised its tally sheet tonight and set the total voter turnout in Rajshahi-4 at 72.059%, the number of votes cast in Netrokona-3, 4, and 5 still remains far higher than the total number of registered voters, unchanged from earlier figures.

However, there was no change in the overall referendum results or in the percentage figures.

Nationwide, the referendum officially recorded 48,074,429 "Yes" votes and 22,565,627 "No" votes, yielding a 60.26% turnout, slightly higher than the 59.44% reported for the parliamentary elections, a difference attributed to legal factors. While parliamentary results in Chattogram-2 and Chattogram-4 were suspended pending court cases, the referendum figures were fully incorporated, boosting the overall turnout.

CHT, Gopalganj constituencies voted "No"

In all three seats in the Chittagong Hill Tracts and all three in Gopalganj, voters favoured "No." In Khagrachhari, 155,942 "No" votes outweighed 144,355 "Yes" votes; in Rangamati, the "No" lead was 108,106; and in Bandarban, "No" exceeded "Yes" by 18,739.

Gopalganj's three constituencies showed particularly strong "No" support: in Gopalganj-1, "No" received 128,298 votes against 54,716 for "Yes"; in Gopalganj-2, 107,290 to 34,302; and in Gopalganj-3, 93,368 to 33,498. 

Other constituencies where "No" prevailed include Rajshahi-4, Jhenaidah-1, Sunamganj-2, Chattogram-8, and Chattogram-12. 

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, 2.26 crore cast "No" votes, and 74.02 lakh ballots were declared invalid or cancelled.