Gazipur voting suspension claim is false

Ahead of Bangladesh’s national election, many social media users are falsely claiming that voting has been suspended in five constituencies in the Gazipur district. The posts misrepresent a local administration notice on a delay in ballot paper distribution—not the suspension of voting.

A Facebook post (archive link) shared from an individual account on February 7 says: “Voting has already been suspended in 5 parliamentary seats in Gazipur.” The post urged everyone to “spread the photo” of a notice signed by the Gazipur Deputy Commissioner and Returning Officer, Md. Alam Hossain. Similar claims were later shared from multiple Facebook profiles and groups (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).

The same profile shared the notice again, with the caption: “A farcical election cannot be allowed under any circumstances. Voting has already been suspended in 5 constituencies in Gazipur. Ballot papers have been stamped in many places. I will say one thing, there won’t be any election in Bangladesh without ‘boat’ (Awami League’s electoral symbol)?” The same image was posted from multiple personal profiles, groups and pages on Facebook (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8).

Online media outlet Durbin News shared a photocard with the notification’s image, claiming, “Voting has been suspended in 5 constituencies in Gazipur district…”

However, the letter issued by the Gazipur Deputy Commissioner and Returning Officer on February 6 states that the distribution of ballot papers and election materials for five constituencies has been “postponed due to unavoidable reasons”, adding that the date and time of distribution would be announced later.

A search of the relevant keyword led to a report published by Kaler Kantho on February 7, with the headline, “Ballot distribution in Gazipur on Sunday”. According to it, ballot papers with the names and symbols of candidates would be distributed in Gazipur from February 8, ahead of the February 12 election, citing a letter from the Gazipur Deputy Commissioner and Returning Officer dated February 7.

Dismislab also contacted Gazipur Additional Deputy Commissioner (General) Md. Shahrear Nazir, who clarified that voting had not been postponed. Only the transfer and distribution of ballot papers were delayed, and that they would resume on Sunday.

This means the claim that voting has been suspended in five Gazipur constituencies is false. The notice being shared concerns the postponement of ballot paper distribution, not the suspension of polling.