The main opposition BNP has lodged a complaint with the Election Commission (EC), alleging that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her office are trying to influence the Gazipur City Corporation (GCC) poll to get the result in the government’s favour. It also urged the EC to deploy army personnel, so that the civic body poll could be held in a free, fair and impartial manner.
“A cell has been set up in the PM’s office to monitor the GCC poll scheduled for July 6. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is controlling the poll from her office through the monitoring cell,” BNP standing committee member MK Anwar told reporters, after a meeting with chief election commissioner (CEC) Kazi Rakibuddin.
Anwar, along with Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, joint secretary general of the BNP, lodged the complaint at the CEC’s office on Tuesday.
“We came to know that a monitoring cell has been formed in the PM’s office and she is directly influencing the election,” Anwar said. He, however, did not make it clear how he had come to know about the control room in the PM office.
“We asked the EC to count the votes cast for the mayoral candidates before those for the councillors, in order to prevent any possible attempt to manipulate the result,” he added.
MK Anwar also alleged that the EC was not taking necessary action against those violating the electoral code of conduct in the GCC area.
“A councillor candidate was caught red-handed while distributing money among voters. Under these circumstances, army deployment during the GCC poll is a must for holding the local body poll in a free, fair and peaceful manner,” he added.
Anwar alleged that around 400 pro-Awami League people had been appointed presiding officers for running the polls.
In addition, government officials, including police in the GCC area, were working according to government directives, he alleged.
“We’ve submitted a list to the CEC of those officials working for the Awami League-backed mayoral and councillor candidates,” he said.
Responding to a query over army deployment in Gazipur when the four city corporation polls had already been held in a fair manner without military presence, Anwar posed a counter question: “Who will be affected if the army is deployed there?”
-With The Independent input
