— Focusbangla photo
Sporadic violence, occupation of polling centres, stuffing ballot boxes marked the first ever municipal polls with partisan nominations that left one person killed and around 100 injured across the country.
Polling began at 8:00am and ended at 4:00pm. Counting of ballots began at most of the polling centres.
A trader Nurul Amin, 40, was killed in a gunfight among the supporters of two councillor candidates in Satkania municipality area in Chittagong on Wednesday morning.
Officer-in-charge of Satkania police station, Mahmudul Hai, said the incident took place at Keranihat near the Satkania Government College polling centre around 11:00am.
The supporters of pro-Awami League councilor candidates – Mojammel Haq Bhola and Monirul Islam Halim – locked in clashes and traded fire leaving Nurul Amin critically injured.
He was taken to a nearby clinic where physicians declared him dead.
Election Commission sources said polling has been suspended at 15 polling centres across the country. Polling has been suspended at two centres at Kalkini of Madaripur and three centres at Chandanaish of Chittagong. Polling has been cancelled at one centre at Muradnagar of Comilla.
Returning officer Sanjida Sharmin told New Age that polling has been suspended at Ashatul Chowdhury Forkania Madrassah centre, Gachhbaria ANJ High School centre, and Gachhbaria Bodurpara Government Primary School centre.A councillor candidate of word-6 of Rangunia in Chittagong, Md Harun, was awarded two years imprisonment for snatching the ballot box around 3:00pm, said the returning officer Md Saiful Islam Majumdar.
Miscreants vandalise Gagan Memorial High School polling centre in Barguna on Wednesday. – Focusbangla photo
In Barguna, at least 25 people were injured as miscreants attacked a polling centre in Barguna in the morning.
The miscreants stormed Gagan Memorial High School polling centre around 9:15am and carried out vandalism, said Manjurul Alam, presiding officer of the centre.
The attackers also snatched ballot papers from booths, United News of Bangladesh reports.
At one stage, they locked into altercation with the on-duty law enforcers, and swooped on the people present there, leaving 25 of them, including polling officer and voters, injured.
Later, members of joint force fired blank shots to resist the attackers. The incident prompted the authorities to suspend voting at the centre.
In Patuakhali, Bangladesh Chhatra League activists occupied a polling centre at Mojaharuddin Biswas Degree College in Kalapara this morning.
A group of 25 to 30 people led by Sujan, general secretary of the district unit Chhatra League, stormed into the polling centre in front of police and pushed out the agents along with newsmen of the centre.
Voters left the centre as they apprehended the situation. The police stood silent then.
Meanwhile, at least five people were injured in a clash between the activists of Awami League and Bangladesh Nationalist Party at Panjupara polling centre in Kuakata. The police fired 25 rounds of bullets to control the situation. They arrested a man in this connection.
In Rajshahi, Border Guard Bangladesh detained a journalist and a cameraperson on ‘suspicious movement’ at their camp in Puthia early Wednesday.
The detained were Sourabh Habib, bureau chief of ATN News and Dainik Samakal, and cameraman Rabiul Islam. The newsmen said they had information about stuffed ballot boxes at the BGB camp and went there to verify it.
Puthia police officer-in-charge Md Shahriar said the BGB men held them around 2:00am. They were handed over to the police this morning.
In Tangail, BNP-mayoral candidate Sarkar Shahid of Madhupur municipality declared to boycott the municipal elections as he alleged vote rigging and occupying polling centres by the ruling Awami League men.
In another incident, the followers of Awami League-backed mayoral aspirant Masudul Haq Masud attacked the activists of its rebel mayoral candidate Tariqul Islam Chanchal at Ghatandi polling centre of Bhuapur municipality ward number 9 around 9:30am. Tariqul Islam and his agent Khairul Islam Babul were injured in the attack. They were admitted to Tangail Medical College Hospital.
Meanwhile, a local Awami League leader was injured when he tried to intervene the clash between the supporters of two councillors at Bhuapur Model Primary School centre in the municipality ward number 4.
Immediate after the incident, the Awami league men equipped with local weapons carried out attack on the supporters of BNP-backed mayoral candidate Khaleq Mandal leaving seven people injured. They were taken to Bhuapur Upazila Health Complex.
In Narayanganj, the police arrested a local Juba League leader on charge of vote stuffing at Masabo Government Primary School under Tarabo municipality, said Zulfiqar Ali, sub-inspector of Tarabo police station.
The arrested was Babul Mia, finance secretary of the municipality ward number 3 unit Juba League.
BNP-backed mayoral nominee Nasir Uddin, however, alleged that the Awami League men pushed out his agents from 11 polling centres.
The Awami League men were stuffing ballots openly at Ruposhi New Model High School centre at Tarabo, our correspondent reported.
However, presiding officer Md Abdus Sattar Khan denied the allegation. A number of 1, 200 votes, out of 2007, was cast within four-and-half hours.
A clash took place around 1:15pm among the supporters of Awami League-blessed mayoral aspirant Fazle Rabbi and its rebel candidate Sadekur Rahman at GR Institution School and College centre in Sonargaon municipality ward number 5 and 6. Seven to eight crude bombs were blasted during the clash.
The law enforcers also fired 10 bullets to contain the situation, said Md Zakaria, assistant superintendent of police of Special Branch.
At GR Institution School and College, unidentified people attacked policemen and journalists that left five policemen injured around 3:40pm. The attackers also vandalised cars of Ekushey Television and SA TV.
In Manikganj, five people were injured in tripartite clashes among the supporters of Awami League-backed mayoral candidate Ramjan Ali, its rebel mayoral candidate Gazi Kamrul Huda Selim, and BNP-backed aspirant Jadu Mia at Shaheed Titumir Academy centre around 8:30am.
In Munshiganj, at least 20 people including two journalists were injured, among of them five were bullet-wounded, in attack and clashes at different polling centres.
Five people including Arafatuzzaman Babu, Munshiganj correspondent of the daily Shokaler Khobor, and a cameraperson of RTV, were injured in an attack carried out by miscreants at Purba Shilmandi centre this noon. The miscreants also vandalised the camera.
Besides, 15 people were injured in gunfight among the followers of Awami League-backed candidate Biplab Faysal and a councillor candidate Mokbul Hossain at Idrakpur and PTI polling centres. Five of them received bullet injuries.
Another clash took place between two councillor aspirants at Dewbhogh centre around 1:30pm. Several crude bombs were exploded here.
Meanwhile, rebel Awami League mayoral candidate Rezaul Islam Sangram boycotted the elections.
In Pabna, around 20 people were injured in clashes at different polling centres under Sujanagar municipality.
The activists of Awami League’s mayoral nominee Abdul Wohab carried out attack at Char Bhabanipur Primary School centre around 12:30pm to occupy the centre. They blasted 10 to 12 crude bombs leaving at least six to seven people injured.
The followers of Abdul Wohab also exploded seven to eight crude bombs at Sujanagar Model High School centre. The police arrested four people from the spot.
Eight people, including the councillor of municipality ward number 6, Abul Kalam Azad, were injured at Sujanagar NA College centre in clashes among the supporters of Abdul Wohab, rebel Awami League candidate Tofazzal Hossain Tofa, and different councillors.
In another incident, four people were bullet wounded in a gunfight among the supporters of Abdul Wohab and Tofazzal Hossain at Niogir Bangram centre.
BNP’s mayoral candidate for Ishwardi municipality Mokhlesur Rahman Bablu said the Awami League men had drove out his agents from 18 polling centres.
In Lakshmipur, the BNP-backed mayoral aspirant of Raipur municipality, ABM Zilani, boycotted the election demanding its re-election. He brought allegations of vote rigging and grabbing polling centres by the men of the Awami League-backed contestant Ismail Hossain.
At Ramganj of Laksmipur, most the polling centre were occupied by the ruling party supporters, witnesses said.
The supporters of councillor and mayoral candidates of rival groups chased and attacked each other to occupy the polling centre injuring at least 20 people.
At most of the centre BNP backed polling agents were driven out and the vote casting almost concluded within this noon.
In Rangamati, at least 17 people including Bangladesh Nationalist Party backed mayoral candidate Saiful Islam Chowdhury Bhutto were injured in clashes between activists of BNP and Awami League at Rangamati. Three of the injured people suffered bullet wounds, said officer-in-charge of Rangamati Kotwali police station Abdur Rashid.
According to the Election Commission, 945 people are contesting for 234 mayoral positions, 8,746 for 2,193 councillor positions and 2,480 are contesting for 731 councillor positions reserved for women.
Of the mayoral candidates, 234 are from the ruling Awami League, 223 from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, 74 from the Jatiya Party, 57 from the Islami Andolan Bangladesh and 72 are from 16 other parties, while 285 are contesting the polls as independent candidates.
The independent candidates include 30 rebel AL and 15 rebel BNP candidates, sources in the parties said.
In seven municipalities – Pirojpur, Tungipara, Chatkhil, Madarganj, Feni, Parshuram and Chengar Char – AL mayoral candidates were declared elected unopposed.
The commission deployed 279 platoons of Border Guard Bangladesh forces in 229 municipal areas for four days from Monday while 233 mobile teams of Rapid Action Battalion and 233 other teams comprising members of the police, the Armed Police Battalion and Ansar were fielded to control law and order.
Source: New Age
