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Jamaat, before losing Bangladesh elections, offered 15,000 takas to each voter: Report
The pamphlet circulated by Jamaat reportedly promised 15,000 Taka to voters along with “voter allowance and travel expenses”.
As Jamaat-e-Islami, the biggest rival of the Tarique Rahman-led Bangladesh Nationalist Party, trails far behind amid the ongoing vote count, the party tried until the last moment to woo voters in its favour, even by offering religious assurances as well as money.
On Thursday, the coalition headed by the party distributed pamphlets promising 15,000 Taka to voters. The pamphlets, accessed by NDTV, also said that if all members of a family voted for Jamaat, their afterlife would be “free of sin” and they would be granted “salvation from grave punishment,” the report said.
The party even asked voters to prove that they voted for Jamaat’s party chief Shafiqur Rahman, 67, by bringing a camera phone to the polling booth and taking a photo of their ballot papers after they are stamped. The Jamaat-e-Islami is leading an 11-party alliance and was banned under the rule of Sheikh Hasina, however, it has re-emerged after her ouster.
Track live updates of Bangladesh polls results here.
‘You must fulfil the promise’
The pamphlet circulated by Jamaat promised 15,000 Taka to voters along with “voter allowance and travel expenses”.
“Assalamu Alaikum. You are surely aware that to ensure the victory of Islam in the upcoming National Parliament election, Ameer-e-Jamaat Shafiqur Rahman must be elected in the Dhaka-15 constituency," the pamphlet read, reported NDTV.
It also said that in order to receive 15,000 Taka, which is supposedly meant to be “voter allowance” and “travel expenses”, the voters would have to prove that they voted for the party and said that the party workers already have voters’ "Voter ID number” and “bKash-linked mobile number".
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"You must fulfil the promise of having all family members vote for the "Dari Palla" (weighing scale) symbol. This promise will make your afterlife free of sin and grant salvation from grave punishment. You must go to the centre early on election day, and must bring a camera phone so that you can take a photo after stamping the ballot as proof," the pamphlet read.
"After voting, exit the centre and hand over your Voter ID card to our designated representative and show the photo of the stamped ballot. Female voters will hand over their Voter ID cards to our female Jamaat representatives. After voting and handing over the ID card, stay near the voting centre because you may be called back by our representative for a special reason," the document added.
"This leaflet must be kept completely secret, keeping the Great Allah as witness”.
Among the instructions given to voters through the leaflet was also to vote “Yes” in the referendum ballot, followed by taking a photo of the stamp on the ballot.
Also read: ‘New’ Bangladesh or same old with tweaked face? Bit of both as ‘Khamba Tarique’ set to be PM Rahman
Jamaat loses to Tarique Rahman’s BNP
Jamaat’s desperate efforts to bring voters to its side even with a bribe did not pay off as the former Bangladesh PM Khaleda Zia’s son Tarique Rahman drove the Bangladesh Nationalist Party to a decisive victory in the polls held on February 12. The party declared victory after local media projected a two-thirds majority for the centre-right party. BNP and its allies have won 181 seats out of the 299 parliamentary seats that went into polls, followed by Jamaat and its allies which has so far won 61 seats, according to Bangladesh’s local media outlet the Daily Star.
