Staff Reporter :
Voting in Rajshahi, Sylhet and Barishal city corporations ended on Monday afternoon amid widespread irregularities and boycotting by candidates of different parties.
Incidents of violence, widespread allegations of irregularities and boycotting have stained the three city corporations’ election.
Voting began at 8:00am and continued till 4:00pm. Sporadic incidents were filed from all the cities.
In the halfway of the voting, all mayoral candidates but the ruling Awami League candidate boycotted the polls in Barishal alleging that the polls were rigged by Awami League.
BNP mayor candidate in Barishal Mujibur Rahman Sarwar boycotted the polls at 12:15pm alleging limitless ballot stuffing by AL men.
Following Sarwar, Islami Andolan Bangladesh mayor candidate Obaidur Rahman and Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal (BSD) nominated Manisha Chakrabarty boycotted the election alleging the same.
In Rajshahi, the BNP candidate Mosaddek Hossain Bulbul kept from casting his own vote protesting the ballot stuffing in most voting stations. He told journalists, “My vote did not matter in jeopardised democracy.”
Bulbul also staged a sit-in protest at Islamia College polling centre at Binodpur in Rajshahi protesting at irregularities in election.
In Sylhet, most of the incidents of violence were reported from the district.
An executive magistrate was hurt when he was passing through a fight between two councilor candidates. There have been multiple reports of clashes.
The BNP has called the three city polls as farce alleging unprecedented irregularities, violence and ballot stuffing.
However, the ruling Awami League brushed away all the allegations and claimed the voting was underway in a festive mood and that BNP was out to mar the elections.
Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader on Monday said that BNP’s allegations over the three city polls only to make the elections controversial.
He said this at a press conference at Dhanmandi-3, the office of the party President Sheikh Hasina at 5:00pm.
Obaidul Quader, also Road Transport and Bridges Minister also claimed that the city mayoral elections of Rajshahi, Sylhet and Barishal were held in a free and fair manner.
On the other hand, BNP Senior Joint-Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi termed the polls as ‘violent farce’.
“The ruling Awami League goons had driven away BNP’s polling agents from nearly all polling centres during the elections in the three cities and stuffed ballot boxes in favour of AL mayor candidates,” Rizvi said in a press briefing in the party’s central office after the polls.
The city elections are the last major polls before the next general elections expected to be held in December.
Five mayoral candidates are contesting the polls in Rajshahi, while seven mayoral contenders are running in Barishal and Sylhet each.
Among the mayoral candidates, Awami League’s AHM Khairuzzaman Liton and BNP’s Mosaddek Hossain Bulbul are considered the front-runners in Rajshahi, while AL’s Serniabat Sadiq Abdullah and BNP’s Mujibur Rahman Sarwar in Barishal and AL’s Badar Uddin Kamran and BNP’s Arifur Rahman in Sylhet.
In terms of security risks, there are 306 ‘important’ (vulnerable) polling stations out of 395 in the three city corporations.
Awami League’s mayoral AHM Khairuzzaman Liton cast his vote at Upashahar Satellite Primary School centre. He said he would accept whatever the result comes.
Meanwhile, BNP’s candidate Mosaddek Hossain Bulbul’s chief election agent Tofazzal Hossain said till 9:30am their agents were not allowed to enter in 13 polling centres.
Assistant returning officer Delwar Hossain said problems at two centres came to their knowledge and they had instantly resolved it. Any other complaints are yet to come, he said.
In Barisal, Awami League’s candidate Serniabat Sadiq Abdullah cast his vote at Barisal College centre and said he would accept the results, whatever it comes.
BNP’s Mujibur Rahman Sarwar went to cast his vote at Syeda Mujibunnesa Secondary School centre but could not case his vote as he did not know his voter number. Chaos was created outside the polling centre as people wearing badges of ‘boat’ chanted slogans against Sarwar.
Sarwar later told reporters that his agents were ousted from around 50 polling centres and voters are being intimidated. ‘If it continues there will be no fair election,’ he said.
At Barisal Government Girls High School Centre, Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal candidate Manisha Chakrabarti came under attack twice after she caught ballot papers stamped on boat symbol.
In Sylhet, AL’s Badar Uddin Kamran cast his vote at Government Pilot Primary School centre and the BNP’s Arifur Rahman cast his vote at Rainagar government primary school centre.
