A man has died as police reportedly opened fire during a ballot snatching at a voting centre of Sagordighi union parishad under Ghatail upazila in Tangail in the early hours of Thursday.
The deceased was identified as Abdul Malek, 32, a relative of one Bubli Begum, a reserved women’s seat aspirant of the union.
District election officer Tajul Islam said they suspended the voting at the Gupta Brindabon Government Primary School centre following the violence.
Locals said they learnt that the supporters of Awami League-back chairman candidate Hekmat Sikder were stuffing ballot papers at the voting centre at around 3am.
On hearing about this, the supporters of independent candidate Habibullah Bahar rushed to the spot and tried to obstruct them, triggering a clash, they said.
They added that people from inside the centre fired bullets to create panic after which policefired back to bring the situation under control, leaving Malek dead on the spot.
Tangail Police Superintendent Sanjit Kumar Roy echoed them saying a group of people numbering 100/150 attacked the centre to loot ballot papers around 3am.
As per instruction of the presiding officer, police fired bullets on the snatchers to bring the situation under control, resulting in the death of Malek on the instant.
