Deploying army in city polls as strike force is an eyewash: Afroza Abbas

BNP-backed Dhaka South mayor aspirant Mirza Abbas’ wife Afroza Abbas has criticised the election commission’s move to keep army as a ‘reserve and strike force’ during the Apr 28 city polls.

“We wanted CCTV camera coverage and army at all the polling centres. Army was kept as a strike force during the Upazila elections, but that didn’t work,” she said on Wednesday while campaigning at Dhaka’s Sutrapur.

The EC’s decision to keep the army as a strike force was an ‘eyewash’, added the senior BNP leader's wife. “Army needs to be deployed with judicial power.”

The EC has written to the Armed Forces Division asking for three battalions of troops to guard against foul play during the elections.

In the letter, it mentioned that the army would be assigned to the three city corporations as ‘reserve and striking’ force.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Afroza Abbas said that sensing defeat in the polls, government supporters are attacking Khaleda Zia.

“It’s clear from the repeated attacks on Khaleda Zia that the government is scared.”