Man dies in clashes over Chattogram city polls

A 28-year-old man has died in clashes between rival groups in Chattogram as the city corporation goes to the polls.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 27 Jan 2021, 06:11 AM
Updated : 27 Jan 2021, 10:23 AM

The incident took place at 9:30 am on Wednesday.

The dead man has been identified as Alauddin Alam, a resident of the city’s Ambagan area.

Locals said that six people, including a woman, were injured in the incident.

However, police were unable to say what sparked the incident.

Rebel candidate Mahmudur Rahman said Alauddin worked for him. The Awami League candidate has been occupying the election area with outsiders since yesterday, he claimed, adding Alauddin was shot dead outside a polling centre.

"Six more people were injured in the incident. Some of them were shot and others got hit in the head. An injured woman is in a very bad state.”

Violence was reported as people in Chattogram headed out to the polling centres to choose the new leadership of Chattogram City Corporation braving the hurdles caused by the coronavirus pandemic and violence.

Voting that began in 735 centres at 8 am with electronic voting machines will continue until 4 pm, said election officials.

Voters showed up at different centres on the chilly winter morning and their number is expected to rise as the day rolls on, according to the officials.

More than 1.9 million voters will cast their ballots to choose the new mayor, 39 ward councillors and 14 women councillors in reserved seats.

Seven contestants are vying for the mayoral post, but the main competitors are Awami League candidate M Rezaul Karim Chowdhury and Shahadat Hossain of BNP.

BNP PLANNED THE ATTACKS: AWAMI LEAGUE

The Awami League has blamed the BNP for orchestrating the attacks on voting centres in an effort to subvert the Chattogram City Corporation election.

Three ruling party activists were injured in the clashes during the election, Chattogram city Awami League's Vice President Ibrahim Hossain Babul said at a media briefing.

Reports of violence began to surface as people in Chattogram headed out to the polling centres on Wednesday.

“There were long queues of voters outside the centres. They were proud to exercise their right to vote. They all cast their ballots themselves,” Babul said.

But the BNP has been seeking to 'undermine' the integrity of the election, according to Babul. “BNP has no public support because of the violent means they have adopted. They are always there on the campaign trail but are never found on voting day. This is their strategy.”

The BNP was ‘scared’ to see long queues of voters outside the polling centres and ‘attacked the polling stations in a planned manner with the help of outsiders’, Babul alleged.

Babul, who was also the chief election agent of the Awami League mayoral candidate, said that the BNP will never ‘succeed with their plans.’

On the absence of BNP agents at the voting centres, the party's candidates claimed they were 'driven out' by their rivals.

Awami League leader Babul, however, denied the allegations, saying ‘none of the BNP people were harassed’ in any of the polling stations.