Tabith casts doubt over fairness of polls; Atiqul confident about victory

Tabith Awal, the BNP-endorsed Dhaka North mayoral candidate, has cast doubt on the fairness of the city election after the polls opened on Saturday.

He also bemoaned the absence of any executive magistrate at Gulshan's Manarat International School and College where he cast his own vote and alleged faults with the electronic voting machine or EVM.

"Considering the overall situation, I don't think we're heading into a free and fair election. There have been attempts to attack, intimidate and disrupt the polls since the morning,” said Tabith after casting his vote.

"But I've said before that the people are out strength and we will use that strength to deal with adversities throughout the day."

Tabith, who also ran for the mayor's office in 2015 before pulling out of contention midway through the election, vowed to fight until the end this time around.

"We are not giving up or losing hope. Our morale is still strong. We can sense that our rival party is scared."

On whether he will lodge a formal complaint with the Election Commission, Tabith said, "The allegations are being forwarded to the EC. Law enforcement have already been made aware. We are regularly sending all the information we're getting."

"A magistrate from the EC is supposed to be at all polling centres. But I couldn't find a magistrate at Manarat School. A machine has been installed but it's still not functioning properly."

Tabith arrived in the polling centre with his family at 8 am on Saturday but his mother faced problems casting her vote in the EVM.

Farzana Sharmin, the assistant presiding officer of the voting centre, said, "The connection to the panel was loose. We later changed the panel and she was able to cast her vote afterwards."

Atiqul Islam, the Awami League-backed candidate seeking reelection as Dhaka North's mayor, is confident about his chances of winning the election but promised to accept whatever outcome arrives.

Atiqul cast his vote at the Nawab Habibullah Model School and College centre in Uttara on Saturday.

Speaking to reporters afterwards, he said, "I've contested the BGMEA elections before. Elections are nothing new to me. I hope the voting is held in a good environment. I urge voters to come to the polling centres and cast their votes."