Kornai villagers this time cast votes peacefully
Kornai villagers this time cast votes peacefully
Kornai villagers, who fell victims to violence unleashed by BNP and Jamaat-Shibir men before and after January 5 parliamentary polls, this time could cast their votes peacefully in Sadar upazila election yesterday.
Male and female voters lined up in orderly rows in front of Kornai Government Primary School centre and exercised their right to franchise without fear as law enforcers provided security for them.
“I could not cast my vote on January 5 as criminal prevented me from going to the centre' said Anjali Rani Roy of the village.
Presiding Officer Sharif Ahmed of Kornai Government Primary School centre said 2,460 out of 4,710 voters of the centre had already cast their votes by 2:30pm.
Voter turnout at the centre in the 10th parliamentary elections was only 19 per cent, sources at the district election office said.
Sumita Rani Roy, who was waiting in a queue for her turn, told this correspondent that she came under attack by BNP-Jamaat men on January 5 and returned home without casting vote. “This time I came here as law and order has improved in the area” she added.
During the national election on January 5, the villagers, most of them are Hindus, could not cast their votes due to the violence let loose by Jamaat-Shibir and BNP men in the area on the polling day and the night before.
They vandalised and looted at least 150 houses at Kornai village 43 shops at Kornai Bazar.