At least 20 BNP leaders and activists including its Khagrachhari district unit President Wadud Bhuiyan were injured in an attack allegedly by Awami League men while campaigning in Ramgarh upazila today.

Wadud, also a former MP and chairman of Chattogram Hill Tracts Development Board, came under attack around 11:30am when he along with his party men was electioneering for Jatiya Oikyafront candidate Shahidul Islam Bhuiyan Farhad, BNP sources said.

At least 20 BNP men including senior leaders of district unit Jobo Dal, Chhatra Dal and other front organisations were injured in the attack by the “ruling party men”, they claimed.

The injured were given treatment at Khagrachhari District Sadar Hospital.

Confirming the news of the clash between AL and BNP men, Ahmar Uzzaman, superintendent of police in Khagrachhari told The Daily Star that police later rushed to the spot and contained the situation.

Ruling 14-party alliance today alleged that opposition BNP and its alliance Jatiya Oikyafront are trying to make army and December 30 elections “questionable”.

“Army is deployed as per the demands of BNP and Jatiya Oikyafront. Now they are trying to make the army questionable,” 14-party alliance leader Dilip Barua told reporters after handing over a letter to the EC secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed.

Dilip Barua led a delegation that protested attack on Awami League activists and sought EC's steps on stopping the conspiracy of BNP and Oikyafront.   

“They [BNP and Jatiya Oikyafront] are trying to make December 30 election dubious by raising one after another false allegations” Dilip also said.

Election Commissioner Mahbub Talukder has termed the prevailing electoral atmosphere as an ominous sign for the democracy and underscored the need for reform to the overall electoral process.

“Reform to the electoral process is needed for holding a meaningful election and continuation of the democracy,” Mahbub made the observation in a written statement centering the second phase of the upazila parishad election held amid a low turnout of voters.

“But it is not the Election Commission’s job to reform the electoral process, rather it is the matter of political decision,” the election commissioner said.

Claiming that the government devises plan on how to hold the local body election, Mahbub said, “I hope all political parties would participate in the election in future if it is held in a free, fair and credible manner and equal opportunities are created for all.”

The people will not have to lament if the electoral process is reformed and the responsibility is vested upon the Election Commission, he said. “The matter is needed to be considered.”

Mahbul also described this year’s upazila parishad election as an exceptional one as most of the political parties did not participate in the election.

“And due to this, the upazila parishad election has lost its glory,” he said adding that voters disinterested to go to the polling centres for holding the uniliteral election.

He said there is an apprehension that such inertia of people to the election process might turn into aversion to the democracy. “It is an ominous sign for the democracy.”

Claiming that the trend of elected unopposed has been introduced this time, Mahbub said, “In my option, election means competition among many people. If it is not held that way, how is it called election?”

“Can we call the people, who were elected unopposed, selected or elected?” the Election Commissioner said.

He said over a hundred people have already been elected uncontested in the absence of any valid candidate to oppose them and there is a possibility that more 50 people might be elected uncontested.

“The trend to be elected as people’s representatives unopposed is not good news for the democracy,” Mahbub expressed his concern.

The Election Commission’s activities will determine whether BNP and its alliance will stay in the election race till the end, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said today.

“The activities of the EC have been biased so far. If the commission wants, it can still create the atmosphere of a fair polls,” he told reporters in front of his Uttara residence this morning. The BNP leader was heading to Bogura and Rangpur for electioneering.

The BNP secretary general said, “The election has become questionable. The role of the EC and law enforcing agencies is not satisfactory at all.”

“BNP and its alliance partners had hoped that after army deployment the overall atmosphere would be improved and the election atmosphere would return but that has not happened,” Fakhrul said.

“The way violence is being carried out, opposition campaigns are being barred, which is not at all congenial for a fair election,” he alleged.