Six people including five presiding officers have been arrested on charges of holding a “secret meeting to work for a chairman candidate” in the Sirajganj upazila parishad election to be held on Wednesday.
After cancelling the appointment of 10 presiding officers including the arrested ones, the local administration appointed 10 new presiding officers.
Sirajganj Deputy Commissioner Mir Mohammad Mahbubur Rahman, also the returning officer, shared the information at a press conference on Monday night.
He said they conducted a joint drive with the police, election office and district administration after being tipped off that a secret meeting was taking place at Garden Palace Resort in the Kadai area of Sirajganj Sadar upazila, involving several presiding officers supporting a chairman candidate.
Though no one could be arrested from the spot during the drive, later CCTV footage and some resort staff were taken to the local police station for questioning, he said.
The arrested presiding officers are Serajul Islam, 52, assistant prof of Jamuna Degree College; Ashraful Islam, 53, principal of SB Railway Colony School and College; Abu Sama, 44, lecturer of Sirajganj Police Lines School and College; Babu Kumar Ghosh, 42, lecturer of Ratankandi School and College; Yasin Arafat, 53, senior principal officer at Janata Bank Sirajganj zonal office; and Aminul Islam, coordinator of the meeting, assistant teacher of Shiyalkol Government Primary School and president of Sirajganj District Primary Teachers' Association.
Superintendent of Police Arifur Rahman Mandal said they conducted drives in the district and arrested them including the meeting’s mastermind, Aminul Islam.
The ongoing operation to arrest others continues, he said, adding that a case was filed accusing 20 individuals, including eight unidentified ones, with Sirajganj Sadar police station.
The upazila has a total of 171 polling centres.