The local BNP leaders in the district blamed the party for not choosing popular aspirants to vie in the Sunday’s third round of upazila elections, which led to the disgraceful defeats of their candidates in all seven upazilas here.
The leaders also blamed lack of coordination with its alliance’s partner Jamaat during the polls, and rampant rigging by the ruling AL.
They said their rebel candidates in most upazilas also contributed to the defeat, though they had secured victory in five upazilas out of six here in the third round of upazila polls.
Enamul Hoque Enam, senior vice-president of Chittagong (south) unit BNP, said many rebel candidates vied from their party due to wrong selection of candidates in five upazilas. “This is a reason behind our appalling defeat.”
“Despite being a partner of 19-party alliance, Jamaat took position against our candidates in most of the upazilas, which is another reason for the defeat,” Enamul said, adding that the results could have been different had the AL not rigged the polls.
Aslam Chowdhury, general secretary of Chittagong (north) unit of BNP, said rigging occurred with the help of administration, and this contributed significantly to their defeat.
“The ruling party started manipulating the polls nakedly from the third phase after witnessing their debacle in the first two phases,” he said.
Aslam added that their candidates were not even able conduct their campaign properly owing to widespread violence by the AL activists, and the results could have been a little bit better had they take part in campaign with Jamaat.
