Nuru-Humayun Parishad wins BAAC election in Connecticut

Nuru-Humayun Parishad has won the full panel results of the biennial election of the Bangladeshi American Association of Connecticut (BAAC), one of the Bangladeshi organizations in the US state of Connecticut.

The results were unofficially announced by the Election Commission on Wednesday (September 15) morning after a series of setbacks and dramas following the polls held on Sunday (September 12).

According to the results announced by the Election Commission, Nurul Alam Nuru got 864 votes for the post of President of Nurul-Humayun Parishad, rival candidate Dr. Tamim Ahmed got 752 votes, Tarequl Ambia (Tareq) got 865 votes for the post of Vice-President-1, rival candidate Syed Rahman Aziz got 730 votes, Mohammad Hashem got 852 votes for the post of Vice-President-2, rival candidate  Abdul Jaigirdar (Khokon) got 736 votes.  Humayun Ahmed Chowdhury (Jaigirdar) got 815 votes for the post of General Secretary, rival candidate Abdul Mumit (Mamun) got 777 votes, Habibur Rahman got 839 votes for the post of Joint General Secretary, rival candidate AKM Uddin (Mesbah) got 749 votes, Mohammad Rahman (Raju)  for the post of Treasurer 822 votes, Mohammad Alam (Jahangir) got 761 votes, Farid Chowdhury (Tareq) got 850 votes for the post of organizational secretary, Ariful Islam (Nipun) got 743 votes, Mohammad Ahmed (Roni) got 822 votes for the socio-cultural secretary, rival candidate Mollah Bahauddin (Pial) got 758 votes, Md. Moazzem Hossain (Babul) got 850 votes for the post of co-socio-cultural secretary, rival candidate Nixon Biswas got 729 votes  Abul Kalam Azad got 842 votes for the post of public relations secretary, rival candidate Mohammad Haider (Iqbal) got 733 votes, Mohammad AB Siddique got 811 votes for the post of sports secretary, rival candidate Abdul Baky got 772 votes for the post of joint sports secretary Rahman (Hamza) got 819 votes, rival candidate Jamshed Uddin got 757 votes, Nasimul Karim (Babu) got 813 votes for the post of Student Affairs and Youth Forum Secretary, rival candidate Rahim Khan got 765 votes, Marilyn Mithila Rozary also got 819 votes for the post of Women's Affairs Secretary rival candidate Ferdous Anwar (Rekha) got 762 votes, Habibur Rahman (Habib) got 823 votes for the post of executive member, rival candidate Adv. Saleh Ahmed got 758 votes, Mohammad Jaber Shafi got 821 votes, rival candidate Abdus Khan (Sabur) got 762 votes and Zafar Ahmed got 811 votes and rival candidate Kanet Assension got 769 votes.

Due to the negligence and whims of the commission, the unfinished counting of votes in the September 12 polls was delayed by almost two days. The unfinished vote count was scheduled for Monday (September 13) evening. The counting of votes was delayed for a day and a half as the ballot boxes deposited at the police station were not returned.

Baac's biennial polling took place last Sunday (September 12) at four polling stations throughout the day. Out of about four and a half thousand voters, only 1,586 cast their votes this time. The Election Commissioner did not mention the total number of votes received anywhere in the declared results but very cleverly mentioned the total number of votes counted. Not even the number of invalid votes in the declared results. The total number of votes counted is shown as 1,616.

According to the polling agents of the four centers, the total number of votes received was 1,586. Of these, 339 were in Stamford, 437 in Wallingford, 261 in Bridgeport and 549 in Manchester. The Election Commission has counted 1,616 votes. Where did the additional 30 votes come from? Many have questioned whether the child exploded inside the ballot box kept at the police station.
Meanwhile, there was no continuous sequence of ballot papers in any of the centers. Voting started at serial numbers of ballots 8,000 in Manchester center, but was given a bundle of 7,000 serial number in the middle. Voter lists and ballot papers are reported to be in disarray at each center. The exact number of unused ballot papers kept at the end of the vote was not disclosed to the polling agents. At that time, the ballot boxes were closed and the number of unused ballot papers was mentioned, but the signing of the polling agents was not done.

According to rules, unused ballot papers were supposed to be deposited along with the ballot boxes kept at the police station, but instead it was reportedly taken to the house of an Election Commission member.

During the unfinished counting of votes the next day, the unused ballot papers were not displayed in front of the representatives of the two panels. Many questions have been raised among voters about how the Election Commission counted more votes than received.