Munshiganj by-election

The Munshiganj by-election was set against a backdrop of allegations of vote rigging, and tension was apparently running high. Thus, the enthusiasm that was expected of the electorate, in view of the interest otherwise generated in the by-election, was not reflected by the voter turnout. It was a rather disappointing 45.63 percent.

Rigging and forcible prevention of voters from casting their ballots have also been alleged and newspaper accounts of the incidents suggest their occurrence in some degree. What creates a regrettable impression is that the police prevented Sunil Sarkar, a schoolteacher, from casting his vote, thereby predictably sending a dampening signal to the voters from a minority community.

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The allegations that 2000 voters from the community actually stayed away from voting must be gone into and those found responsible given deterrent punishment. Nothing like this should happen again.