‘A little bit of bickering’
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal yesterday said "a little bit of bickering always takes place" during Union Parishad polls.
At a briefing at the secretariat yesterday, he said, "Police are doing their duties. The elections are being held in large areas. The UP election, as you've seen, is an election of dominance between groups."
Meanwhile, immediately after the home minister made the comments, his colleague Murad Hassan, the state minister for the information ministry, said the fighting and bloodshed over the UP polls is very saddening.
"The things happening over the local government election are not acceptable."
Around 835 UPs took part in the second phase of the local body polls yesterday.
According to media reports, around 31 people were killed due to election-related violence in the two phases and in between those.
Yesterday, six were killed in separate clashes. Three were killed in Narsingdi, and one each in Chattogram, Cumilla and Cox's Bazar.
Speaking to journalists in the afternoon, Asaduzzaman said that police have identified and arrested many of those responsible for the killings.
"Steps are being taken to find all those involved in the killings."
He added that the law enforcement agencies have been working for fair and impartial elections.
Later, State Minister for Information Murad said, "The election is being held at a time when the prime minister is abroad. What is our duty over election? What are we doing?"
"This [polls violence] is not the culture of Awami League politics. It's also not philosophy of Bangabandhu…The problem lies with our mentality. We've to change our mentality and love the country.
"I call upon everyone, especially the activists and leaders of Awami League, to refrain from such clashes from now on."
Murad suggested appointing someone at the home ministry to help the minister concerned in this regard.
He also urged the law enforcement agencies to be more alert and active at the election centres.
The Election Commission is going to hold more than 4,100 polls to union parishads, upazila parishads and municipalities by December this year.
In the first phase, 160 union parishads took part in the polls on September 20.
Comments