Staff Reporter :
The BNP has called a shutdown in Dhaka for Sunday citing anomalies in the results of city polls as Awami League candidates have taken an early lead in the mayoral race.
Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir announced the decision from an instant media briefing at the party’s Naya Paltan headquarters on Saturday after the daylong voting.
“We refuse this election totally. In protest, we will enforce the dawn-to-dusk shutdown on Sunday,” he said.
It is the first shutdown called by the opposition party in five years after it had faced widespread criticism for deadly protests for months in early 2015.
Its leaders, including Chairperson Khaleda Zia, were accused of instigating violence in a number of cases over fire-bombing of vehicles during the protests. She was jailed in corruption cases in 2018.
When Mirza Fakhrul announced the decision on the shutdown, Awami League candidates Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh and Atiqul Islam were leading their BNP rivals Ishraque Hossain and Tabith Awal by huge margin.
The BNP alleged its polling agents were driven out of the polling stations while its supporters were being barred from voting.
The turnout has been very low with Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda predicting it to be less than 30 percent.
There were no reports of major violence during the voting, but many alleged intimidation.
