Witnesses said a scuffle started between two groups when Tabith Awal, the BNP mayoral candidate in Dhaka North, began Sunday’s campaign outside the shrine of Hazrat Shah Ali in Mirpur.
“We came under attack and the attackers shouted ‘Joy Bangla’,” Tabith alleged.
“I will continue campaigning peacefully despite the attack,” Tabith added.
And Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh, the Awami League nominee in the South, said his rivals attacked a procession of his supporters on Rama Krishna Mission Road on Saturday evening.
Launching the third day’s campaign at Shantinagar, Taposh said a ward councillor candidate backed by his party “was among the victims of the attack”.
“It’s unfortunate that the attack happened even after I had visited my rival the BNP’s Ishraque Hossain”, Taposh said. “It’s absolutely disgusting,” he added.
“It’s incorrect. We have evidence, photo that no supporters or activists of ours carried out any attack whatsoever on them. Their men attacked our workers last evening instead,” he said
He claimed the windows of several cars were shattered in the alleged attacks, preventing his supporters and councillor candidates backed by his party from campaigning.