Rigging, violence in Chandpur polls
The ruling Awami League-backed candidate has been unofficially declared the mayor of Chandpur Municipality in election, which was allegedly marked by rigging, occupying poll centres, violence and boycott of his only rival.
Nasir Uddin Ahmed, the AL-blessed candidate, secured 47,112 votes while independent candidate Shafiqur Rahman bagged 16,117 votes in yesterday's election, sources said.
Shafiqur, also the former mayor of the municipality, at a press briefing around 12:00noon announced to boycott the polls alleging that 45 out of 49 poll centres were occupied by AL men within 11:00am.
He further alleged that the AL men were stuffing vote boxes with ballot papers and many voters were forced to leave without casting vote due to lack of ballot papers.
Nasir Uddin Ahmed refuted the allegations and claimed his rival candidate had raised the allegations sensing defeat.
Nasir, also the incumbent mayor, was contesting the poll with election symbol mobile, while Shafiqur, a former mayor, joined the race with the symbol jug.
The BNP-led 20-party alliance has not extended support to any candidate in the election.
Supporters of councillor candidates clashed in several poll centres over vote rigging, forcing the authorities concerned to temporarily suspend voting.
Campaigners of councillor candidates Humayun Kabir and Nasirul Islam locked in chase and counter chase in several phases at the polling centre of Lady Protima Mitra Girls High School, leading to a halt of voting for one and a half hours.
Police fired 20 rounds of blank shots to ease the situation. At least 10 people were injured in the clashes.
At one stage, Deputy Commissioner of Chandpur Ismail Hossain cancelled the votes at the centre around 11:00am and ordered fresh voting.
Violence and rigging of votes were also reported from several other centres.
Ataur Rahman, district election officer and returning officer of election, said they had to halt voting in “some polling centres due to some problems”. He added he was not aware of boycott of polls by Shafiqur.
Chandpur Municipality, with more than 1.1 lakh voters, went on election after nine years since the last election held in 2005. The election was supposed to be held in 2011 but was delayed due to some legal complications.
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