The BNP yesterday alleged that the deployment of armed forces during the upazila parishad poll was nothing but eyewash.
It said the government had allegedly been conspiring to tarnish the image of armed forces.
“The Election Commission asked the army in writing to play its role to stop violence in the upazila elections, but what have we seen in today’s poll?” Salahuddin Ahmed, joint secretary general of the party, posed a question yesterday at a press briefing at BNP’s Nayapaltan Headquarters. Salahuddin alleged that the Election Commission had been working, being completely subservient to the government.
“As per CRPC 131, army can play its role during poll. People want to know for which mysterious grounds, army cannot play its role,” he said.
The former state minister hoped that the army would play its due role following the legal procedure.
BNP Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said the ruling party men occupied polling centres and cast ballots illegally in 46 of 91 upazilas.
“From our sources, we came to know that in most of the centres in 46 upazilas, the ruling party men occupied the polling centres, ousted opposition party-backed candidates’ agents and cast illegal votes,” he told the press briefing.
The BNP leader alleged that the Awami League activists snatched ballots like a wolf with only one aim to bag more chairman posts.
Rizvi said the government would not change through the local body election, but the way the ruling party men behaved hinted what would happen if the parliamentary election took place under the Awami League.
The BNP also accused the ruling party activists of occupying poll centres with the help of local administrations and committing violence across the country.
Rizvi said: “Occupying polling stations seemed like a festival, and our apprehension of vote rigging by the ruling party men during election came true.”
