Joynal Abedin Khan :At least one hundred and fifty people, including three presiding officers, were injured in polls violence in different parts of the Dhaka and the Chittagong city corporations on Tuesday.Apart from this, a number of people received bullet and burn injuries when the leaders and activists of ruling party and its associate organizations open fired and hurled petrol bombs outside of polling centers in Dhaka and Chittagong.The ruling pert men set ballot boxes ablaze, and snatched ballot papers from different polling centers in the cities.They also attacked on BNP leaders-workers, councilors and polling agents.Law enforcers also arrested about 50 people, including BNP and Jamaat supported councilor candidates and poling agents, police and local sources said. In the capital, at least 20 people, including a presiding officer were injured in a clash between two groups of Awami League-backed councilor candidates in the city’s Kaful High School in the morning. Presiding Officer Mazharul Islam said: “The supporters of AL-backed councillor candidate Mahmuda Begum and rebel candidate Motiur Rahman locked into a clash around 11:00am. They also vandalised some ballot boxes and police guns.””I got hurt in my eye during the clash. Two journalists, policemen and some voters also received injuries.”Police detained one Rana from the spot in this connection, added the official. Meanwhile, at least 19 people were injured in a clash between the supporter of AL blessed councilor candidate Md Saidul Haque and BNP-back candidate Md Asaudzzaman in Tikatoli area in the morning.At Motijheel, over 10 cocktails were exploded on the Kabi Jasim Uddin Road, Kamlapur in the morning. However, no one was injured in the blast. At Hazaribagh, at least 30 people were injured in a clash between the supporters of AL blessed councilor candidate of Ward No. 14 of DNCC, Md Selim and rival candidate Ilias Rahman at Jarina Shikder High scahool in Hazaribagh in the afternoon, said OC Moinul Islam. Shahbagh police arrested at least five activists of BNP, from in front of the national Press Club when they were staging demonstration protesting the rigging of polling centers.The arrested men were identified as Nahid, Jabed, Jubayer, Latif and Monir. Kamlapur, two polling agents were beaten by unruly youths and police as they protested against vote rigging allegedly by Awami League candidates in the morning.The voters and the supporters broke and destroyed ballot boxes in the center and also set them on fire when they came to know about the vote rigging. At Bashabo, seven people, including a disabled man, were injured when Awami League candidate Ashrafuzzaman Farid launched an attack with sharp weapons on a polling centre at Bashabo in the morning. Five of them have been identified as Mukul Hossain, 37, Md Sumon, 28, Shafiqul Islam, 24, Saiful Islam Babu, 38, and Araf Hossain.At Maniknagar, a 35-year-old Kalu Chandra Shil sustained bullet injuries in a police firing in a polling center at Model High School.Suroj Hossain, who took Kalu to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, said the injured is disabled and works as a housekeeper in Maniknagar.”He was hit by bullets in the abdomen and two legs when he was on his way to a local market around 10:30am,” he said.In Lakkhibazar, a 35-year-old man was injured after being hit by bricks in the head during a clash at Kabi Nazrul Government College. He was rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.At Bokshibazar, locals gave mass beating to four people suspecting them as ‘vote thieves’ while they were coming out after casting votes from Begum Badrunnesa Government Women College at Bokshibazar in the afternoon. At Sutrapur, at least 30 people were injured in a clash between the AL blessed councilor candidate of Ward No. 44 of DSCC Saleh Jaman Selim and rival candidate Nijam Uddin Sutrapur Community Center in the afternoon, said OC Moinul Islam.At Swamibagh, at least ten cocktails were recovered from Swamibagh area in shantinagr in the morning.At Modertec, Police detained a woman councilor candidate from the Mothertec’s Kalachadpur area. The detained candidate was identified as Afroj Habib, Ward No. 12 of DNCC.At Moghbazar, at least 10 people were injured in a clash between the supporters of AL blessed councilor candidate of Ward No. 35 of DNCC Mokhlesur Rahman and rival candidate Mokter Hossain Ispahani School and College at Moghbazar in the morning, said Ramni Police station OC Moshiur Rahman..At Rayerbazar, At least three persons received bullet injuries in gunshots at Rayerbagh under Hazaribagh Police Station in the afternoon. The identities of the victims could not be known immediately, said the OC Moinul Islam.Meanwhile, at least 30 supporters of councilor candidate Anjuman Ara of Ward No 13 were arrested from Ananda Bhaban Community Center during the casting votes. At Mirpur, miscreants attacked the independent councilor candidate of Ward No 3 Ashrafulk Alam in a polling center of Senpara Parbata Primary School in Mirpur Section 10. In Chittagong, At least 30 people were injured in polls violence in different parts of the port city. Police arrested 30 people by conducting separate drives, said our local corresponded quoting the police.Director General of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) Benazir Ahmed on Tuesday said that the voting at different centers in Dhaka and Chittagong ended peacefully.He made the comment while talking to reporters during his visit to Gulshan Shahjadpur Primary School.”The stray incidents which have been reported from different areas have been controlled by us,” he added.
