With voting still to go in two final phases, the 2016 Union Parishad election, being held along party lines for the first time, has already secured the dubious distinction of the most violence-marred election in the history of independent Bangladesh, reports UNB. According to Shujan – Citizens for Good Governance, a civil society platform working for democracy and democratization, 91 people had been killed in UP election-related violence till May 19. A further 6,000 have suffered injuries since the polling schedule was announced by the Election Commission on February 11.
Shujan’s figures are compiled from reports on incidents of election violence in the national media, with care taken to avoid duplication of victims. A full list of the 91 victims, including two women and three children, has been shared with UNB.  
On May 5, Shujan had warned that the trend of violence centring the ongoing 9th UP election was set to surpass the mark set in 1988 during the 4th UP elections, for the most violent election ever held in the country. The number of deaths from that election stood at 80.
Ironically, ruling party Awami League have been the worst sufferers amongst all the parties by far.  At least 47 of the 91 dead listed by Shujan are either members of AL, or belong to the party’s so-called ‘rebel candidates’ camp - who failed to secure  the party central command’s backing, but decided to run anyway. The Shujan list includes 36 of the former, and 11 of the latter.  
Outside the AL victims, 22 of the remaining 44 were identified as supporters of member candidates (who have no formal party identification). Perhaps most tragically, 17 were members of the public, innocent bystanders in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Just two of the victims were with the BNP - although whether this reflects their shut-out from the political process or any inherent culture of democracy is questionable.