A section of BNP men are campaigning for Awami League dissident candidate Sardar Mohammad Mannan who is contesting independently from Dhaka 16 constituency in Mirpur.
The BNP activists campaigning for Mannan are mostly followers of local BNP leader Ismail Hossain Benu, Ward 2 commissioner of Mirpur.
Ilius Uddin Mollah is the Awami League candidate in the constituency.
BNP, the main opposition party, is not taking part in tomorrow's polls.
Locals of Mirpur 10, 12 and Pallabi told the Dhaka Tribune that activists of BNP were conducting strong campaign for Mannan.
A number of locals in the constituency said Benu has had a strong hold in Dhaka 16 as he has been a grassroots BNP leader and ward commissioner for the past 25 years.
“He went into hiding after the government started crackdown on opposition leaders and activists. Even though he is not present in the area, he has strong clout that matters a lot,” Mujibur, a local of Mirpur 10, said.
When contacted, Mannan told the Dhaka Tribune that he was not quite sure if BNP activists campaigned for him or not. “Locals are with me; there could be some BNP activists among them.”
Mannan said he knew nothing about BNP leader Benu.
Moments later, however, he said: “Benu is not in the country.”
When asked about voting, Raju said: “If I vote for boat, Awami League is going to win and even If I vote for pineapple, still the Awami league is winning.”
Independent candidate Mannan was allotted the symbol pineapple.
