Dhaka, July 31 – The BNP on Tuesday rejected the just concluded poll results of Rajshahi and Barishal city corporations, accusing the government of stealing votes and demanded re-polling in the two cities. The party also announced countrywide demonstrations at city and district levels protesting the failures of the government and the Election Commission in holding the city polls in a free and fair manner.
BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir yesterday made the demand and announced the programme at a press conference at party central office at Naya Paltan in the city.
“It was not a matter of stealing or rigging of votes like in Khulna and Gazipur but there was a festival of rigging of votes in the three cities…The ruling Awami League was not the only opponent of the oppositions, rather administration and Election Commission have emerged as the opponents,” he said.
He also accused the EC and police of turning the elections into a farcical to ensure the victory of the ruling party candidates.
The BNP leader’s comments came as the official reaction of the party a day after the three city polls in Rajshahi, Barishal and Sylhet.
“Of the three cities, we turned down the poll results of Barisal and Rajshahi. We also demand cancellation of the results and re-election in the two cities,” he said.
About Sylhet city polls, the BNP leader said their party mayoral candidate could have won with a margin of over one lakh votes had the election been held in a free, fair and credible manner there. They could not implement their evil design as the BNP men built a strong resistance in Sylhet, he added
The elections to Rajshahi, Barisal, and Sylhet city corporations were held on Monday.
Awami League’s mayoral candidate AHM Khairuzzaman Liton and Serniabat Sadiq Abdullah in Barishal won the mayoral posts in Rajshahi and Barishal respectively with huge margins of votes. The announcement of the results of Sylhet city was postponed as the number of votes in two centres where voting was suspended is higher than the difference between the two leading candidates’ tallies. BNP mayoral candidate Ariful Haque Chowdhury is, however, leading in Sylhet.
Mirza Alamgir categorically said that the polling in the three cities proved it again that no election under Sheikh Hasina led present government would be held in a free and fair manner and peoples mandate won’t also be reflected through it.
Referring to vote rigging in 12 polling centres in Sylhet, he said despite the casting of 100 per cent votes over 100 people were standing in the queue and later they had to return as there were no ballot papers.
In Barishal, he claimed that there was no symbol of “hatpakha”, the poll symbol of the mayoral candidate of Islami Shasantantra Andolon in the ballot papers.
He regretted that despite all the irregularities and vote riggings, the Chief Election Commissioner claimed that there was a free and fair election in the three cities and he was happy with this.
BNP standing committee members Goyeshwar Chandra Roy, Nazrul Islam Khan, vice chairman Ahmed Azam Khan, chairperson’s advisers Amanullah Aman, Abdus Salam, Mehedy Ahmed Rumi and senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi were present at the press conference. – Staff Reporter
