Almost the entire political opposition yesterday rejected the city corporation polls in Dhaka and Chittagong alleging widespread rigging.
It began even before the day’s voting was barely halfway through with Chittagong BNP officially pulling out and their mayoral candidate M Manjur Alam going as far as announcing retirement from politics in protest.
In a press conference at the BNP’s Nayapaltan office in Dhaka minutes later, BNP standing committee member Moudud Ahmad said the same thing. He had with him Tabith M Awal, their mayoral candidate in the north of the capital, and Afroza Abbas, wife of their mayoral candidate in the south, who narrated what they had seen.
Later in the afternoon, Zonayed Saki, the young leftist mayoral candidate in the north, and the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), also expressed “no confidence.”
BNP in Chittagong
Around 11:45am, less than four hours after the voting started, Chittagong city unit BNP President Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury called a press conference at M Manjur Alam’s central election office.
“The Awami League’s muscle-men, election officials and the law enforcement agencies have concertedly conducted the misdeeds. It is now proved that people will not be able to cast their votes as long as this government remains in power,” Khosru said.
“Police barred our agents from entering the polling centres, and BGB and RAB remained silent,” said Khosru, who was also Manjur’s chief election agent.
Manjur, who was also present at the conference, said in a voice almost choking in emotions: “I am withdrawing from the election as I do not want to create any unpleasant situation. I have competed in six elections and this is the last election of my life. With this I am also retiring from politics.”
BNP Vice-Chairman Abdullah-Al-Noman, also present at the press conference, said police and election officials started stamping the seal on the electoral symbol of the ruling party-backed candidate early in the morning.
“With this, the government may be winning the city corporation elections, but it is getting beaten in politics,” Noman said.
Meanwhile, in a counter press conference, Hasan Mahmud, publicity secretary of ruling Awami League, claimed that Manjur had withdrawn because of non-cooperation from his party men, not because of rigging.
“If he had withdrawn as a protest against rigging, then he would not have retired from politics,” the Awami League leader explained.
BNP in Dhaka
The press conference at the BNP’s Nayapaltan headquarters began a few minutes after 12pm.
“This is not an election .... We are rejecting this voterless election. This election is a satire of democracy. This is a defeat for the government and the Election Commission,” said Moudud Ahmad.
“Without getting a green signal from the ruling party men, nobody was allowed to enter the polling centres. Only Awami League men were allowed to stay inside. They first forcibly took control of the polling centres, and then filled the ballot boxes with rigged votes,” he said.
Former Dhaka University VC Prof Emajuddin Ahmed, also convener of the Adorsho Dhaka Andolon, said at the conference: “In the morning, I along with my family, went to cast our vote at the Dhaka College polling centre. There, a student came and assaulted me. It was shameful.”
The pro-BNP intellectual also said they had participated in the election with an aim to come out from the politics of confrontation. “But our mission has been failed by this farcical election.”
Zonayed Saki
Expressing no confidence in the authorities, Zonayed Saki, backed by the People’s Solidarity Movement or the Gonosonhoti Andolon for the mayor of Dhaka north, said that his organisation was rejecting the poll results.
He made the announcement at a press briefing at the party’s headquarters at Hatirpool in Dhaka yesterday afternoon.
Terming the polls unfair, he said: “We have decided to reject the poll result, after we observed a number of incidents of vote manipulation and irregularities.”
Alleging widespread rigging, he also said: “The ruling Awami League has robbed the citizens of their rights to vote.”
Earlier in the day, the party asked its polling agents to quit all voting centres by 2pm.
CPB and BSD
Leftist political parties Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) and Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal (BSD) also rejected the city elections terming it farcial.
In a joint press conference in the afternoon, the two parties urged people to get ready for an intense movement to restore democracy in the country.
CPB General Secretary Syed Abu Zafar Ahmed said: “Following the voterless January 5 national election and the widely rigged upazila elections, these city elections have proved once again that fair voting is not possible under the incumbent government.”
Bazrul Rashid Feroz, the CPB-BSD backed mayoral contender in the south of Dhaka, said at the conference: “This election reminds us of the farcical elections held during the regimes of Zia and Ershad.”
Their candidate in the north Abdullah Al Kafee Ratan said: “You can understand how good an election is when you know that a mayoral candidate had been attacked.”
