Dhaka, Feb 03 – The opposition BNP’s daylong hartal in the city was observed yesterday peacefully and no untoward incident took place elsewhere.Except small sit in demonstration in front of the party central office at Naya Paltan there was no picketing in the city in favour of the hartal.
The transport movement in the city was also normal but the number of private cars was thin. Educational institutions remained open while there was no impact also in the markets and government and private offices.
BNP, the arch rival of the ruling Awami League called the hartal protesting what the party said for holding farcical elections.
The party enforced the hartal about five years after the party left confrontational political programme after carrying out three month long blockade programme after January 5, 2014 national elections.
After ending the daylong hartal, party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir called for fresh demonstration programme at thana levels in the rejecting the city polls on Tuesday.
He took part in the demonstration for a while and later he stayed inside the party central office.
Earlier, the two BNP mayoral candidates, Tabith Awal for Dhaka North and Engr Ishraque Hossain for Dhaka South, rejected the poll results and took part in sit in demonstration programme in front of the party central office.
The BNP leaders and activists started gathering in front of the party central office from the morning where BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, Habib-un-Nabi Khan Sohel took part in it.
They chanted slogans protesting holding a farcical elections and demanding cancellation fo the poll results.
At one stage, the agitated party workers set fire of symbolic EVM box and the Naya Paltan areas were jerked as party leaders and workers continued different slogans.
Engr Ishraque Hossain joined the demonstration first and later Tabith Awal attended the gathering that continues till the afternoon with a break of one hour.
Huge numbers of law enforcers were deployed in front and adjacent of BNP central office to control any possible untoward situation. The lawenforcers were remained vigilance in the different strategic points in the city to control law and order during the hartal.
Speaking the sit-in demonstration, Ishraque Hossain said the turnout of votes was shown more than quantity of votes cast in the city corporation polls.
He termed the poll results fabricated and stage managed and it did not reflect the public opinion. “Thus, we reject the poll results,” he added.
Tabith Awal said the election was not held in a fair manner at all. We never expect such an election. We reject the elections which were rigged,” he added.
He said the demand for observing hartal came from the people and they remain beside the people and they will be.
The BNP took part in the two city polls what the party said as part of their movement to free Khaleda from jail and restore democracy.
The AL mayoral candidates Atiqul Islam and Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh were unofficially declared elected in the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) and Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) elections on Saturday.
The BNP rejected the poll results over allegations of vote rigging and resorting to different irregularities by using the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) system in the elections. – StafReporter
