BNP on Wednesday alleged that the elections to Chattogram City Corporation (CCC) were marred by “unprecedented vote robbery’ and violence”.
The party also branded Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) KM Nurul Huda as a “killer” of democracy and fair elections.
"This election (CCC polls) is nothing but an extreme level of joke and farce. Fair elections remain unknown to people during the rule of this regime,” said BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, reports UNB.
He came up with the remarks while talking to reporters after lodging various complaints with the Election Commission (EC) about the irregularities in the CCC polls.
The BNP leader alleged that the agents of their party’s mayoral and councillor candidates were driven out from most of the polling stations just after the voting began in the morning.
Rizvi said they have submitted a memorandum to the EC depicting a brief picture of three hours of voting in the CCC polls. “It’s an unprecedented election.”
He said they lodged around 20 written complaints on different irregularities and vote ‘frauds’. “Our agents have been driven out of the centres while two people were killed. It’s an election of violence. They’ve set an example of what type of peaceful voting the government wants to hold. It became clear within two-three hours. An extreme violent atmosphere has been prevailing in the city’s electoral areas.”
The BNP leader claimed that their party’s more than 50 leaders and activists were injured during the election violence in Chattogram. “Voters are being obstructed from going to polling stations.
He alleged that the law enforcers are not taking any steps to ensure the proper election atmosphere and security of voters.
The balloting began in the CCC polls around 8 am and will continue till 4 pm without any break. Two people were killed in violence in the port city’s Khulshi and Pahartoli areas since morning.
Seven mayoral candidates, including Awami League's Rezaul Karim Chowdhury (with 'Boat' symbol) and BNP's Shahadat Hossain (sheaf of paddy), are contesting the polls.