Councillor hopeful Daisy Sarwar 'assaulted' by rival candidate's men at voting centre

Daisy Sarwar, an Awami League-backed councillor candidate, has allegedly been assaulted by a rival candidate at a voting centre in Dhaka's Lalmatia.

She was attacked by Shafiqul Islam Sentu, the candidate for Dhaka North's ward No. 31, and his supporters at the Baitul Falah Madrasa centre in Mohammadpur around 1 pm on Saturday.

According to Daisy, Sentu's supporters barred her from entering the polling centre when she went there to observe the voting.

One of Sentu's supporters began recording the incident on mobile video but when Daisy tried to stop him, the others pounced on her. Daisy was injured and her shawl was torn.

"Sentu and his men later came to the centre and attacked our activists."

Daisy later posted a video to Facebook, addressing the incident.

"My agents told me over the phone that there were problems at the voting centre. I later entered the polling centre on my own."

“But despite the turmoil, Sentu's people were still entering the centre. Three or four of them tried to rip my clothes up. One of them was even recording a video of the incident. Later Sentu and his men started assaulting my supporters."

Sentu, however, denied the allegations and said, "It was Daisy's supporters who attacked my supporters. A few of them suffered serious injuries.”