Boycott deflates city polls

BNP’s early boycott of the city corporation elections in Dhaka and Chittagong turned the polls into irrelevant events.

Just four hours into the election, BNP announced the boycott, virtually giving walk-over to the ruling Awami League-endorsed candidates.

The polls ended at 4:00pm amid widespread irregularities, vote rigging, law enforcers’ role as partners in crime, intimidation of BNP-backed candidates, their workers and the press – setting a new low for the country’s politics.

All three BNP backed mayoral candidates – Mirza Abbas, Tabith Awal and Majur Alam – and independent candidate Zonayed Saki withdrew or boycotted the election by afternoon as the ruling party men openly resorted to ballot stuffing, blocking voters from entering the polling centres and beating up or threatening journalists.

While the ruling party poses to be quite happy with the way the election was held, the social media was flooded with negative public reactions about how the ruling party deprived the citizens of their right to elect their representatives.

The election also demonstrated the weak and subservient attitude of the Election Commission which remained a silent spectator.

A reporter of Jamuna TV captured a video of vote rigging this morning, minutes after vote casting began at 8:00am.

However, Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmed told the press in the evening that he had visited various polling centres and saw no irregularity anywhere. He was quixotically happy with the election and thanked all for helping him hold a “free, fair election”.