Police fired two rounds of blank gunshots to prevent proxy voting at a polling centre at Abhoynagar Upazila of Jessore district during the Upazila Parishad elections on Wednesday.
The incident took place at Rajghat Jafarpur Girls’ Secondary School polling centre at around 12 noon, Presiding Officer of the centre Ashish Kumar Nandi told journalists.Normalcy returned only after voters presence had thinned following the incident.
Ashish Nandi said that a group of youths numbering 10 to 15 stormed into the polling centre at around 12 noon and tried to cast fake votes. After the polling officers obstructed them, they tried to snatch the ballot papers.
“Then I ordered police to fire two rounds of blank shots. The miscreants fled the scene as police resorted to blank firing.”
Getting the information, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Khulna Range S M Moniruzzaman, a BGB team led by Magistrate GM Sarfaraj and another army team rushed to the spot.
DIG SM Moniruzzaman told reporters, “The miscreants ran away because of the law enforcing agencies’ stern step. A congenial atmosphere will be ensured for the election at any cost.”
Abhoynagar Upazila Executive Officer (UNO) Shifat Minjaz said barring the rigging attempt, no untoward incident was reported from any polling centre of the Upazila.
The religious minorities of Malopara area of Abhoynagar, who were attacked after the January 5 parliamentary elections, also cast their votes in the polls spontaneously on Wednesday.
Four candidates are contesting for the post of Chairman from the Upazila. They are BNP-led 19-Party supported Nurul Haque Mollah, ruling Awami League-backed Robin Odhakari Bacha, Islami Andolon-backed BM Mohiuddin Islam and Nagarik Committee-backed Atiar Rahman.
Consist of eight Union Councils and a municipality, the Upazila has a total of 171,070 voters and 62 voting centres. -bdnews24.com
