PMO trying to influence Pirganj upazila poll

BNP yesterday alleged that officials of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) were trying to influence the election to the Pirganj upazila parishad of Rangpur scheduled to be held today.
“Some officials of the Prime Minister's Office are staying there...a premier's relative is contesting for the chairman post,” BNP Office Secretary Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed told a press conference in BNP's Naya Paltan central office in the capital.  
He said the officials were also violating the electoral code of conduct by providing development allocations there from different funds.
Supported by the Awami League (AL), Chaidat Hossain Bokul, nephew of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's brother-in-law Abdul Khalek Mia, is contesting for the chairman post.
Desperate after the debacle pro-AL candidates faced in the first phase of the upazila elections, the government had increased the degree of its repression and oppression on the 19-party alliance, he said.
The government was responsible for the forced disappearance of six BNP leaders from the capital, added Rizvi.
He claimed that the government could not stop the 19-party backed candidates from winning despite the assistance of its “puppets”, the Election Commission and administration.
“We believe that 95 percent of the BNP-backed candidates could have won if the polls had been fair,” added the BNP joint secretary general.
He warned of strengthening the 19-party's movement and spreading it to every corner of the country if the Election Commission did not act independently in the coming phases of the polls.
He also urged the government to ensure security of life and property of the 19-party's leaders and activists.

BNP LAMBASTS “GUNDAY”
Meanwhile, BNP's cultural affairs secretary and president and general secretary of Bangladesh Nationalist Socio-Cultural Organisation in separate statements lambasted producer Aditya Chopra and director Ali Abbas Zafar for their Bollywood film Gunday.
“In the film, it was shown that Bangladesh's Liberation War was a war between India and Pakistan and birth of Bangladesh was the outcome of this war. This is absolutely false which stunned and hurt all of Bangladesh's people,” said the secretary, Gazi Mazharul Anwar.
The president, MA Maleq, and general secretary, Monir Khan, urged the producer and director to correct the information before going for further screenings.