BNP says Gazipur election is a farce

The BNP has outright rejected the Gazipur election results and demanded a new election.

“The Gazipur election is nothing but a farce. They’ve invented new devices of rigging votes,” said BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, hours after unofficial results were released on Wednesday.

Awami League-backed candidate Zahangir Alam has won the Gazipur mayoral polls, defeating his rival from the BNP camp, Hasan Uddin Sarker, by a big margin in the election held on Tuesday.

Immediately after the election, the BNP branded the election as a grand festival of fake votes, alleging their polling agents were driven out of more than 100 centres, beaten up and arrested.

“We reject the results of the Gazipur city election and demand a new election,” said Fakhrul at a news briefing on the polls.

He urged people to take a strong stance against vote rigging and irregularities in Gazipur.

The Gazipur election bears the hallmarks of Khulna election, he said.

The Awami League has skewed the election results, with the help of law-enforcement agencies, administration and the Election Commission, the BNP leader alleged.

“They’re using the state machinery and intimidating the media.”