Voting During Pandemic 2020 | MysticPosting

It's been three month since I last posted something. During this time, only a few noteworthy things happened in my life. First of which, was that I got my passport within 25 days. Secondly, I went on a Tour at Shitakundo. And finally, my online classes have started. 

Since I last posted, pandemic in Dhaka has been on the lowest alert. People are walking all around like nothing is wrong. After I have returned from Rajshahi, I started to go out almost everyday. Corona is just like any other disease to most of the people. Hardly a few people are seen wearing a mask nowadays. I generally try to keep myself hygiene but even I have gone out without musk a couple of time. Surely it was not intentional but it was not as frightening as it was 3/4 months ago. So yeah, pandemic is just a vacation for us now. 

A few months back, the MP of Dhaka-18 has died. Her name was Advocate Sahara Khatun. She was the former Home Minister of Bangladesh. She died a normal death. As the constitution of Bangladesh, If a member of the parliament dies, someone else have to take his/her slot within 90 working days. This person is elected by the votes of people. Today was the voting day. There were a lot of promotions and slogans before the voting day. 72 hours before the voting day, everything was put on rest. Al-hazz Muhammad Habib Hasan was the candidate for Awami League. His mark was Boat. 

From yesterday, there were stalls around the voting areas. There were volunteers who help general people to find their voting number and give them a slip about that.  People went there, gave their birthdate and the volunteers could easily find the voting number from the provided PDF. Yesterday night, we got our slip with voting number . Today, I woke up late as it was my weekend. Got freshen up and headed out for voting. My voting center was CIVIL AVIATION HIGH SCHOOL. It was 5 min walk from my home. All my friends were there. I went last, as usual. I was instructed to go to second floor and then right. I went there and there was no line. I showed my slip and they asked me to place my index finger on a fingerprint sensor to verify it was really me. I placed my finger and within a few milliseconds, my profile came up. I was shocked how fast and responsive it was. There are almost 180 Million people in our country and almost 150 Million people have their fingerprint register. I expected it to take a bit more to search through the query but it was instantaneous and accurate. Modern science never stops surprising me. 

  

Then I was asked to cast my vote. There was a area covered with cloth so that other people do not see what I am voting for. I went there alone and saw all the candidates. It was a electrical machine with buttons for each candidates. I selected my candidate and there was a confirm button to confirm my vote. As I pressed confirm, my vote was casted. Then I was asked to give a fingerprint to a list full of voters. A black marker marked my thumb to ensure that I have already voted. To be honest, it was a painless process. I went out and saw lot of volunteer walking around. Fun fact, I saw more volunteer than voters. 

This is the first time I have voted on a national level. I could have voted in last election but I did not know for sure, if I was a listed voter or not. But as my first vote, it was pretty painless and pure. Yes, to tell the truth, I did not see any opposite party volunteer. I only heard their slogan once or twice. But no one forced me to vote any specific mark, I voted for the candidate I thought worthy and to me, that's how a election should be.

If someone forced me today to vote for a specific mark, I may never go to vote again. Even if, it was for the same mark I would vote anyway. Voting is my right. No one should be forced to vote a specific mark or candidate because some NETA forced to do so.Voting is like another festival to us, Please do not spoil it.

One last fun observation, Auto-Rickshaws were made free for people that were coming to vote. It was a great initiative to encourage more people to vote. It is our responsibility to vote and select our leader. If we do not do so, we also do not have the right to say ill about our leader. And also, the votes plotted illegally are plotted at the last moment of voting time. The people that do not vote are responsible for this illegal votes. If they have voted themselves, there will not be any corruption. 

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