City corporation polls have turned into a farce: BNP

The BNP has said that agents of its endorsed candidates have been thrown out from polling stations and alleged gross rigging in the city polls.

Voting for the three city corporations—Dhaka North, South and Chittagong— started at 8am on Tuesday and will continue until 4pm.

“Polling centres are being captured and ballots boxes are being stuffed, there’s no option for fair elections now,” BNP’s Religious Affairs Secretary Masum Ahmed Talukder told a media briefing at 11am, three hours after voting started.

He claimed that election officials were ‘directly involved’ in rigging the polls.

“We demand the resignation of the Election Commissioner immediately,” Talukder said at the BNP Naya Paltan headquarters.

According to the BNP leader, agents of candidates backed by BNP were ousted from 500 voting centres across Dhaka city.

“It seems that the promise of a fair election by the election commission and the law enforcers has already turned into a face,” he said.

Voting is being held at 1,093 centres in Dhaka North and 889 in Dhaka South.

In a centre in Dhaka South’s Suritola, polling has been cancelled after the centre was attacked and vandalised.

“We demanded army deployment for credible polls. Now it seems the demand was logical as agents of candidates backed by us are ousted in large numbers,” the BNP leader told the media.

BNP-backed Dhaka South mayor aspirant Mirza Abbas has not come out in public, but after visiting some centres his wife Afroza Abbas alleged that their polling agents were not allowed to enter voting stations.

The party endorsed Dhaka North's candidate Tabith Awal also complained of his agents being attacked and ousted from centres.