The BNP has alleged officials in the Prime Minister’s Office are trying to influence Upazila polls in Rangpur’s Pirganj. Pirganj is the home of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s in-laws.
“Polls will be held in Pirgang Upazila on Monday. A relative of the Prime Minister is contesting in the election as a chairman candidate. That is why some officials of the Prime Minister’s Office are staying there,” BNP Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said at a media briefing at the party’s Naya Paltan headquarters on Saturday.The BNP-led 19-Party alliance is taking part in the Upazila polls after having boycotted the Jan 5 parliamentary elections.
Rizvi said the 19-Party alliance candidate Nur Mohammad Mondol had alleged the PMO officials had breached the electoral code of conduct by allocating development projects like Food for Work and Test Relief among the people. Hasina was elected MP from Rangpur-6 (Pirganj) constituency in the national polls. Pirganj is the only Upazila in the constituency.
Hasina’s brother-in-law’s nephew Chhayadat Hossain Bakul is contending in Monday’s Upazila polls as a chairman candidate backed by the ruling Awami League.
Rizvi said the government had intensified its torture of Opposition activists after its setback in the first phase of Upazila polls.
They are killing the activists by abducting them and staging dramas of crossfire, he said.
The BNP leader alleged the Election Commission was working as an accomplice.
“We want to tell the Commission that if they don’t discharge their duties neutrally, we will extend the area of our agitation.”
He said the government would not be able to thwart the victory of the Opposition-backed candidates in the Upazila polls despite attempts by the administration and the Election Commission.
The 19-Party alliance bagged chairman posts in 56 of the 97 Upazilas in which votes were held on Wednesday, while the ruling party got only 33.
“We believe if the first phase of Upazila polls were fair BNP-backed candidates would have been elected in 95 percent Upazilas,” Rizvi said.
He said six BNP activists had gone missing recently in Dhaka metropolitan area.
“Many leaders and activists are being abducted every day. On Dec 4, plainclothes men picked up six party activists including Sajedul Islam Sumon and Jahidul Karim Tanvir in a black car of RAB-1.”
The law enforcers were now refusing to provide information on the missing activists, he said.
Rizvi said abductions would not succeed in suppressing the opposition activists. – bdnews24.com
