Campaign peaks

Election officials show voters how to use electronic voting machines at Barisal Zilla School yesterday. Photo: Star

Campaigning for the June 15 polls to four city corporations reached fever pitch with leaders of Awami League and BNP joining in to drum up support for the mayoral aspirants backed by their parties.
Winning the polls appears to be a prestige issue for both the alliances.
Amid such situation, a BNP delegation yesterday met the chief election commissioner (CEC) and demanded deployment of army to maintain law and order to ensure peaceful elections.
CEC Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad told them that the law and order was at a satisfactory level and army deployment was not required.
In Sylhet, AL senior leaders Amir Hossain Amu, Tofail Ahmed and Mohammad Nasim have been campaigning for Badar Uddin Kamran for the last couple of days. AL MPs of the Sylhet division also joined them.
Kamran's opponent BNP-backed candidate Ariful Haq Chowdhury has also been having along BNP bigwigs Shamser Mubin Chowdhury and Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, seeking vote for him.
In Khulna, AL senior leader Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim and some mid-level leaders have campaigned for Talukder Abdul Khaleque while BNP eaders, including Goyeshwar Chandra Roy, for Moniruzzaman Mony.
BNP senior leader Nazrul Islam Khan yesterday visited some areas in Rajshahi city and campaigned for his party backed mayoral candidate Mosaddek Hossain Bulbul.
AL leader Abu Sayeed Al Mahmud also visited some areas of the city and sought support for his party backed candidate AHM Khairuzzaman Liton.
The Barisal city also witnessed yesterday campaigning by some senior AL and BNP leaders for their candidates.
AL leaders, including AFM Bahauddin Nasim and Abul Hasnat Abdullah, campaigned for Shawkat Hossain Hiron while central BNP Vice President Abdullah Al Noman and Selima Rahman for Ahsan Habib Kamal.
Meanwhile, the government has declared public holiday for June 15 in the four cities for the city corporation polls.

BNP DELGEATION TO EC
The seven-member BNP parliamentary party delegation, led by party lawmaker Mahbubuddin Khokon yesterday submitted a complaint to the Election Commission against Petrobangla Chairman Hussain Monsur.
It accused him of violating the electoral code of conduct.
Monsur, who inaugurated gas connection in Rajshahi on Friday, sought vote for AL-backed mayor aspirant Khairuzzaman.
Khokon said, "It is a clear violation of the electoral code of conduct and it may influence the poll."
In response, the CEC said the returning officer concerned also found it as a violation and issued Monsur a show-cause notice.
"We will consider on the steps after his [Monsur's] reply," said the CEC.