Bangladesh News

To many the result of a comparison between voter turnouts in 1991 and 2008 elections might come as a surprise, especially when only 55.45 percent of voters voted in 1991 compared to a high 87 percent this time around.

But a clearer picture emerges as one looks at the number of fake and duplicate voters, successful elimination of which helped to boost the percentage of turnout in 2008.

When in 1991the voter list was packed with over one crore fake or duplicate voters and in 2001 with over 60 lakh of them, even high turnouts looked small proportionally, because a very large part of the fake votes could not even be cast.

But this time, the turnout soared as the current Election Commission (EC) clipped around 1.23 crore fake and duplicate voters from the 2006 roll, resulting in a higher proportion of votes being cast.

Even if one calculates the voter turnouts in previous elections after eliminating the fake voters, the percentages still increase significantly.

Voter turnouts were high in previous elections too, particularly in 1991 and 2001, but the average turnouts were significantly low compared to the latest election’s, since the percentages of votes cast in previous polls were calculated based on the total numbers of voters on flawed lists, a huge number of whom were either fakes or duplicates.

According to the erstwhile EC’s report, voter turnout in the fifth parliamentary election in 1991 was only 55.45 percent, meaning around 45 percent voters did not cast their votes in that poll, held immediately after the fall of the erstwhile military dictator HM Ershad.

But the actual truth was that voters enthusiastically participated in that poll too, and the actual turnout of voters was at least 10 percentage point higher than the figure shown in the report, as the voter list used in 1991 had over one crore fake voters, claimed Deputy EC Secretary Mihir Sarwar Morshed.

According to an estimation of the EC, on an average 17 lakh citizens become eligible for being registered as voters each year. But, interestingly enough, when the voter list for 1996 parliamentary election was prepared, the number of voters drastically dropped to 5,67,16,935 from the 1991 number of 6,21,81,743, due to a strict registration rule, although that was not enough to make that voter list totally free of fake voters.

However, the effort resulted in a voter turnout of 74.96 percent in the June 12, 1996 national election, which was around 20 percentage point higher than that of 1991.

Similarly, the official voter turnout in 2001 election was 75.59 percent. But the actual turnout was at least 7 percentage point higher than the erstwhile EC’s calculation, if over 60 lakh fake voters were deducted from the total number of voters.

According to survey reports by different local and foreign organisations, over 60 lakh fake or duplicate voters were on that voter list containing a total number of 7.49 crore voters.

“We calculated the average turnout back then including over 60 lakh fake voters, and found 75.59 percent turnout. If we deduct the number of fake voters and calculate the average, the percentage of turnout in 2001 comes to 82.09,” Mihir Sarwar Morshed told The Daily Star.

Voters who were registered in more than one areas, generally could not cast vote twice, so almost all duplicate votes were not cast at all, unless a massive rigging took place somewhere.

This time around, the turnout actually increased by five percent compared to that of 2001, although the figure shows a 12 percentage point difference between the two elections.

The percentage of turnout in the latest election would not be so high, if the voter list prepared by the previous EC was used this time too.

Justice MA Aziz-led EC prepared a much controversial voter list of 9.33 crore voters that eventually led to the postponement of the ninth parliamentary election originally scheduled for January 22, 2007.

If the percentage of turnout was calculated based on the flawed total number of voters which was 9.33 crore, then the figure would stand at 75.36 percent.

This is for the first time, the current EC prepared a flawless voter list registering 8.10 crore voters, a total of 7,03,57,353 of whom did cast their votes in December 29, 2008 poll, pushing up the percentage of turnout to 87.03.

In addition to the flawless voter list, people also enthusiastically participated in the latest poll for introduction of a digitised voter list, and for the unprecedented peaceful atmosphere on the polling day.

Some of the other steps of the current EC including increasing the number of polling stations, booths, and polling officials ensured quick and smooth casting of votes. The additional measures also played a significant role in increasing voter turnout.

For example, the number of polling stations was 35,158 in the latest poll compared to 29,978 in 2001.

The number of polling booths was 1,76,718 in the latest poll compared to 1,49,288 in 2001.

On an average 2,500 voters could cast vote in a polling station in 2001, while the number decreased to 2,298 in the latest poll.

On an average 635 voters were entitled to cast votes in a polling booth in 2001, but the number was 457 in the last election.

Similarly, the number of polling officials was increased to 5,65,312 in the latest election from 4,77,842 in 2001.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) in a post poll briefing said the extra measures helped ensure higher voter turnout in the ninth parliamentary election.