Last day’s Electioneering: Candidates trade blame over ‘bid to create trouble’

On the last day of polls campaign, mayor candidates of both the Awami League and the BNP yesterday accused each other of attempting to harm the election atmosphere.

Tabith Awal, BNP’s mayoral candidate for Dhaka North City Corporation, expressed concerns over the arrest and “intimidation” of party leaders and activists in the lead-up to the polls.

He said the role of the EC was still a questionable one, but he would make a final comment on it after the election.

“Fear is rising as the election draws nearer. We are not yet certain about whether agents of all the candidates will be able to go to the polling stations,” Tabith told journalists at the National Press Club.

He urged voters to cast their votes without any fear and stay in the polling stations to guard them.

Tabith’s rival Atiqul Islam, speaking to journalists near Bhasantek slum, alleged that his opponent was trying to bring outsiders into Dhaka to foil the voting atmosphere.

“I want to say no evil forces can stop the mass upsurge,” he said.

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, speaking during a press briefing at the party’s Nayapaltan headquarters, alleged that the AL was bringing in criminals from outside the city to create terror and that voters were threatened and discouraged to go to polling centres. 

He also alleged that police were raiding the councillors’ houses and arresting them to create panic.

AL candidate for Dhaka South City Corporation Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh alleged that there was a conspiracy to occupy 170 centres in the city corporation areas to influence the mayoral race. 

While campaigning at Gopibagh, he requested the Election Commission and law enforcement agencies to take necessary steps to maintain a congenial atmosphere conducive to fair voting on election day. 

However, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told journalists that the law and order situation was under control and there was no risk.

BNP’s mayoral candidates said they have enough manpower to appoint polling agents and if law enforcers do not obstruct, agents will be at the polling stations on time.

They said unlike the last city polls, they will stay in the battle till the end.

The AL said they would guard polling centres on election day to thwart any unwanted incidents while the BNP urged voters to guard the polling stations till the vote counting would end.

Meanwhile, Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda told journalists that 75 platoons of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) were deployed in the capital yesterday ahead of the February 1 polls. 

Shariful Islam, public relations officer of BGB headquarters, said 65 platoons would work in the field while 10 other platoons will be kept as reserves.

The prevailing atmosphere has voters wondering whether they would be able to cast their votes.

“In the last parliamentary election, I could not cast my vote. Only if the situation is calm I will think of casting my vote,” Akram Hossain, a private service holder from Jigatola, told The Daily Star yesterday.

The Election Commission will employ EVMs as the sole voting method for the first time, a move that has been opposed by all mayoral candidates except the ruling party contenders.

VEHICLE MOVEMENT RESTRICTED

Meanwhile, the EC imposed a 54-hour ban on the movement of motorcycles in the capital, which came into effect from midnight yesterday. The restriction will remain in place until Sunday morning.

For 18 hours from midnight on January 31 to 6:00pm on February 1, the movement of motorised vehicles have also been restricted in election areas.

Motorcycles and vehicles with EC stickers, vehicles of emergency services, including ambulance, fire service and postal department, will be out of the ban’s purview.