Is low voter turnout in by-polls the new normal?

Thousands of posters hang overhead in roads leading to election centres, where a contrast appears: empty polling stations and thin electorate lines.

This is the increasingly familiar snapshot of voter turnouts in by-polls over the past few years.

The Dhaka-17 by-polls, the seat to one of the most posh locations in the country, is no different.

During today's by-polls to the Dhaka-17 seat, which fell vacant after the death of lawmaker and actor Akbar Hossain Pathan Farooque, the voter turnout remained lower than 6% in the first half of the day.

The voter turnout was low as the current parliament has a very short duration left, said the Election Commission. Besides, the election commission has commented that the voter turnout is low due to the fact that this seat is an elite area and there was heavy rain in some areas in the morning, said election commissioners Ahsan Habib and Rasheda Sultana.

On 21 March 2020, thirteen days after detecting the first Covid-19 case in Bangladesh, the Dhaka-10 by-polls took place where only 5% or around 16,000 voters turned up to exercise their franchise – the lowest ever turnout in the country's electoral history.

A few months later on 17 October 2020, the by-polls to Dhaka-5 began. With over 1,200 newly detected Covid-19 cases, fear prevailed among voters. The turnout was a miserly 10.43%.

The percentage slightly increased but not by a large margin.

On 6 November 2022, Faridpur-2 constituency witnessed only 26.24% voters' turnout.

Election Commissioner Md Alamgir said the Faridpur-2 by-polls witnessed a low turnout due to the absence of tough competition.

"In addition, both voters and candidates showed less interest in the by-polls as they think the elected candidate will not invest much time to work for the area," he added.

By-polls to six constituencies, including Bogura-4 and Bogura-6, Thakurgaon-3, Chapainawabganj-2, Brahmanbaria-2, took place on 1 February 2023 where the average turnout was about 15-25%.

The much talked about Brahmanbaria-2 constituency where the Election Commission arranged a re-election as the initial election was halted due to irregularities, saw only a 16% voter turnout.

On 27 April 2023, the voter turnout was merely 14.55% in the Chattogram-8 by-election.

Sehab Uddin, who contested the by-polls with the candle symbol, claimed that 2%-3% of the voters in the urban part of this constituency and 5%-7% in the Boalkhali area did not go to the polling station.

On 4 January 2023, the Gaibandha-5 bypolls was held and voter turnout was around 35%.

The voting had to be re-run as the Election Commission again halted the first by-polls on 12 October citing irregularities.

A severe cold snap was a factor behind low voter presence in the re-run of the by-polls but proper use of CCTV cameras at polling centres, as well as responsible behaviour of the candidates, voters, presiding officers, law enforcers and others ensured no fraud and untoward incident took place, chief election commissioner Habibul Awal said.

The Dhaka-17 by-polls, meanwhile, is also marked by an absence of the major opposition, the BNP.

A tinge of glamour, faux or otherwise, comes from the presence of  Ashraful Hossen Alom, popularly known as Hero Alom.

Alom, who boasts around 1,660,000 subscribers on his Youtube, is a social media sensation among certain groups. His fame, however, is debated: is it out of irony or actual fandom?

For now, his star power hasn't drawn many voters to the polling booths.

His opponent, Mohammad Ali Arafat, nominated by the Awami League, is a political stalwart, aside from being a university professor. He is the founding convener and current chairman of Suchinta Foundation and also a member of the Awami League's Central Working Committee.

So far though, not too many voters seem interested in either.

What the reason behind the low voter turnout today is still an unanswered question.

What is clear, however, is there is a glaring lack of interest in voters exercising their franchise. This, perhaps, is the new normal.