Mamunul Haque, ameer of Bangladesh Khelafat Majlis and a candidate of the 11-party alliance, has alleged “engineering” during vote counting in the Dhaka-13 constituency.

Speaking on Saturday after submitting a complaint at the Election Commission building in Agargaon, Mamunul said it was impossible to prevent the alleged manipulation.

“This time the election was free from violence. There were a large turnout and great enthusiasm among voters. The polling period was relatively peaceful. However, the ‘engineering’ that took place during counting could not be stopped. It was carried out in a very planned manner. The matter is clear to us,” he said.

He added: “Throughout the day a transparent and calm environment was shown. But during the counting, what was intended was carried out. As a result, the true reflection of public opinion has not emerged through this election.”

Mamunul claimed that in many polling stations, result sheets were not signed by his polling agents. He alleged that his agents were removed from several centers, and in some cases, signatures had been taken in advance through various means. He also said many result sheets showed signs of alteration, including erasures, tampering, and overwriting.

“It is clear that one figure was written earlier and later replaced with another. In every case, the alterations appear to have been made in favor of a particular candidate. This clearly indicates an attempt to inflate votes for that specific symbol,” he said.

He also alleged irregularities with ballot papers in Dhaka-13, claiming that the final row of the second section was left blank, causing confusion among voters. “Many people assumed the blank space was allocated to the last candidate listed in the first section, as there was only a small dividing line in between. Many voters mistakenly stamped the blank space,” he said.

According to Haque, 4,381 votes were invalidated in this way. He further alleged that similar ballot papers were used in other constituencies, but those votes were not declared invalid. “Why, then, were our votes canceled? This is our main complaint,” he added.

When asked why no complaint was lodged at the centers during counting, Haque said many of his polling agents were unable to speak out and that he and his representatives were denied proper access to certain centers. He claimed he was barred from entering Residential Model College after 4:30pm, despite having information about alleged irregularities there.

Claiming that he did not receive a level playing field, Haque said the 11-party alliance was unable to raise objections at the centers and therefore submitted their complaint to the Election Commission. “We have now formally lodged our complaint. We intend to continue this fight until the very end,” he added.