Eminent citizens raise concerns over observer appointments, ballot security

Eminent citizens and election analysts have expressed serious concern over the appointment of new election observers, slow vote counting, voter transfers between constituencies, and the security of ballot papers ahead of the upcoming 13th national election.

Ensuring a fair election requires delivering ballot papers to polling centres on the morning of election day, rather than at night, and taking strict steps to prevent hidden manipulation inside polling stations, they said at a roundtable held at The Daily Star building in Dhaka today (5 February).

The roundtable, titled "Citizen Awareness and Resistance to Prevent Vote Rigging", was organised by the Bangladesh Research Analysis and Information Network (BRAIN).

In the keynote paper, BRAIN Director Shafiqur Rahman said the Election Commission had recently approved 55,454 local observers, of whom about 31,801 – or 68.89% – came from just 16 organisations.

The roundtable, titled “Citizen Awareness and Resistance to Prevent Vote Rigging,” was organised by the Bangladesh Research Analysis and Information Network (BRAIN) at The Daily Star building in Dhaka today, 5 February 2026. Photo: TBS

"The People's Advancement Social Association (PASA) alone has been approved for 10,235 observers, which naturally raises public questions about the organisation's capacity and neutrality," he said.

"In recent student union elections, counting just 20,000 to 30,000 votes took more than a day. If such delays occur in a national election, they could create major confusion and raise serious doubts," he added.

Electoral Reform Commission member and former additional secretary of the Election Commission Secretariat Jasmine Tuli said election manipulation occurs in two forms – visible and hidden – and can be planned even before the schedule is announced through boundary delimitation and voter transfers.

"Presiding officers sometimes announce one result at the polling centre and submit a different one to the returning officer. Without a recount system, detecting such fraud is almost impossible," she said.

Rumana Parveen Annie, a faculty member at the University of Dhaka, strongly opposed sending ballot papers to polling centres at night.

"There is no justification for transferring ballot papers at night. It creates opportunities for manipulation. In national elections, ballot papers must reach polling centres on the morning of election day," she said. 

"Verifying the identity of women voters wearing niqab is a major challenge. While respecting religious sensitivities, facial verification must be carried out by female polling officers," she added.

Dhaka University Professor Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir said the Election Commission was a constitutional body accountable to the public and must prove that it was free from all forms of influence, noting past failures to maintain law and order.

"There have been attempts to spread misinformation on social media to mislead the public, but people have rejected it. Now defeated forces are making desperate efforts to question the election. However, no conspiracy will succeed if the public remains vigilant," he said.

Political analyst Zahed Ur Rahman expressed concern over the recovery of election seals in Lakshmipur and said, "The more worrying question is whether they somehow obtained the soft copy of the ballot papers in advance. Otherwise, how could the voting seals have been found?"

Writer and activist Tuhin Khan raised concerns about the misuse of MoJo (mobile journalism) reporters during elections.

"Some candidates hire hundreds of MoJo reporters to portray polling centre situations in their favour, which is a form of manipulation," he said. 

"The Election Commission must clearly define media responsibilities and rules on access to polling centres," he added.