Dhaka, February 15 The right-wing Jamaat-e-Islami, which emerged as the main opposition party in the recently concluded Bangladesh elections, challenged the results on Sunday, demanding that the Election Commission recount votes in 32 constituencies where its candidates were "unfairly defeated."
The party also retracted a Facebook message acknowledging the victory of its former ally, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), in the elections held on Thursday, for which results were declared on Friday.
The BNP, led by Tarique Rahman, secured a two-thirds majority with 49.97% votes and 209 seats, while Jamaat-e-Islami, which opposed the country's 1971 independence from Pakistan, registered its best performance ever with 31.76% votes and 68 seats.
On Sunday, after filing a formal complaint with the Election Commission (EC), senior Jamaat leader Hamidur Rahman Azad said, "We have identified 32 constituencies where our candidates were unfairly defeated."
"The beginning (of the voting) was good, but the end was not," Azad told reporters at the EC compound, adding that his party demanded a recount of votes in the 32 constituencies.
Election Commissioner Anwarul Islam, meanwhile, told reporters that the EC would decide on vote recounting as demanded by Jamaat if the commission received any court order.
"Their demand requires examination and analysis. The law provides them the opportunity – if there are any election-related complaints, they may inform the Court. The Court will then take a decision accordingly," he said.
However, the commissioner said that the EC was satisfied with the vote management.
This development came a day after Jamaat chief Shafiqur Rahman conceded defeat in a Facebook post, saying, "The BNP-led alliance has secured a majority of seats."
"We acknowledge this result and respect the constitutional process," he said, but added that the polling outcome "also reflects a deeper and more complex reality."
Several mainstream news outlets reported that the Facebook post was retracted minutes after it was uploaded.
The BNP alliance won 212 seats, compared with 77 for the Jamaat-led alliance.
Jamaat was a key partner in the BNP-led four-party alliance floated in 1999, and two of their leaders served as ministers in the 2001-2006 BNP-led government of former prime minister Khaleda Zia.
