New Delhi, Feb 13 (NationPress) The former Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, has openly condemned the recent election conducted in her nation on Thursday, labeling it as “an exercise in extensive administrative manipulation and numerical deceit”, and demanded its cancellation.

She highlighted the disparity in voter turnout by calculating the participation percentage against the total electorate, as updated by the Bangladesh Election Commission throughout the day. Initially low, the later figures she noted showed “highly inconsistent and unrealistic patterns”.

In a statement released on Friday, Hasina, who leads the Bangladesh Awami League, also accused the electoral process of violence, weapon seizures, vote-buying, and numerous arrests leading up to the polls. Furthermore, she pointed to several irregularities during the election, including bogus voting on the election day.

She argued, “By 11 a.m.—within the first three hours and thirty minutes—only 14.96 percent of votes had been cast, totaling 19,105,684 votes.” This suggests an average of 90,979 votes per minute, a figure she deemed implausible given the observed low turnout.

The total registered voter count was reported at 127,711,793, with polling scheduled from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Thursday.

Hasina expressed that typically, voter turnout accelerates significantly during this crucial time, but the numbers reflected an uncharacteristically low percentage in that period. “Then, suddenly, by 12 noon, turnout jumped to 32.88 percent—a remarkably abnormal increase within just an hour,” she alleged.

She further analyzed that, if all 32,789 polling centers were operational, only an average of 11.63 votes were cast per center per minute, which is one vote every 5.16 seconds.

Additionally, she mentioned that out of approximately 86,000 eligible prisoners, only about 5,000—around 3 percent—actually voted, while from an estimated 15 million overseas voters, merely around 500,000, or about 7 percent, participated.

“Given these facts, the assertion of nearly 60 percent overall voter turnout is not just unrealistic, it borders on the absurd,” Hasina charged.

The statement also drew attention to a reported delay in announcing the referendum results, claiming a delay of nearly five hours in publishing the referendum results following the national election results, further fueling public perception of electoral fraud.

The interim government led by Muhammad Yunus has sought a referendum on various reforms and amendments under what is known as the “July Charter”. Hasina’s statement noted that during its time, the BNP chose to boycott two elections and resorted to violence and destruction, leading to numerous casualties. In contrast, she stated that the Awami League was not boycotting the election but was unlawfully restricted from participating.

She called for an annulment of the election, Yunus's resignation, the retraction of “false cases,” the release of all political prisoners, and an end to restrictions on Awami League activities.