BNP leader Ariful Haque Choudhury, the incumbent mayor of the Sylhet City Corporation, has reiterated that he will not be casting a vote in Wednesday's polls in line with his party's decision not to join any election under the Awami League government.
“My party is not taking part in this farce of an election, which is why I am not going to vote,” Ariful told Dhaka Tribune.
The mayor said he was now at his ancestral home in Kamolganj upazila of Moulvibazar to “eat mangoes.”
His wife, Shama Haque Chowdhury, and his staff were with him.
Sylhet BNP President Nasim Hossain and General Secretary Emdad Hossain Chowdhury said they were boycotting the election conforming to the party's decision. Both of them are in Dhaka and said they would not cast their votes.
The government was “staging” the election and using electronic voting machines (EVMs) to make its own mayoral candidate the winner, Ariful earlier said on Tuesday.
“The BNP is fighting to re-establish the rights of the people, including the right to vote. The people of Sylhet are with the BNP in this fight. Party high command expelled 43 leaders and workers in Sylhet for participating in the election. I also boycotted the election following the instructions of the party.”
