GAZIPUR CITY POLLS
ALs Jahangir leads by huge margin
Voting cancelled at 9 centres over irregularities
ABU JAKIR and HAZINUR RAHMAN SHAHIN
Ruling Awami League candidate Md Jahangir Alam was set to win the Gazipur mayoral polls as he was leading his nearest rival BNP candidate Hasan Uddin Sarker by a huge margin as per latest unofficial results received while filing this report at 2:40am today. As per the results received from 345 centres, Jahangir Alam with boat symbol bagged 3,56,394 votes while Hasan Uddin Sarker with election symbol sheaf of paddy managed to secure 1,78,055 votes amid BNP allegations of irregularities, including stuffing of ballot boxes and violation of the electoral code at different polling centres in the city.
The Election Commission (EC), however, said that the election was peaceful, barring some stray incidents that led to the suspension of voting in nine polling stations out of 425. The voter turnout was almost satisfactory, with 55-60 per cent voters casting their votes from 8am to 4pm without any break.
Our correspondent visited different polling stations and found some of the polling centres without any agent of the BNP mayoral aspirant. The BNP polling agents were either ousted or did not turn up, voters at the centres said.
The total voters in the city is 11,37,736 and 5,69,935 of them are male and 5,67,801 female.
At the beginning of the day, presence of the voters was low, but later the numbers of voters
continued to rise, especially women voters. There were long queues of women voters at different polling centres. However, some irregularities such as snatching of ballot papers, forcible voting and threatening of polling agents were found at some polling centres.
At 8.30 am yesterday, a long queue of voters was found at Bariali primary school centre. The same situation was seen at Nilerpara primary school centre of the city. The presence of a huge number of women voters was visible there.
However, no BNP agent could be found in the polling booths at its various polling centres.
The BNP claimed that it was not able to set their polling agents as the AL, police and Detective Branch (DB) police issued threats to them during the night prior to the voting.
Again, some 20 to 30 youths forcibly entered Modinatul Ulom Senior Madrasha centre and cast ballots in favour of the boat symbol at around 2.15pm resulting in two hours of suspension.
The assistant presiding officer of the centre, Akhlasur Rahman, said, Suddenly some youths entered the centre and forcibly snatched ballot papers from me. Later, they cast votes for the boat symbol and quickly left the place.
He said he informed the presiding officer as well as the returning officer about the incident, but the returning officer ordered him to continue the voting.
Meanwhile, five persons were injured in a clash between the supporters of two councillor candidates at Baghbaria Haqqaniya Chalhia Alim Madrasa at Kashimpur in the city. The police later took control of the situation and voting activities were temporarily postponed here.
At Shahid Smrity High School centre, councillor candidate Hannan Miah Hannu and 1012 of his supporters were wounded in a clash with another candidates supporters. Later, the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and police went to the spot and took control of the situation.
Voting was also suspended for two hours at Mogorkhal centre following a clash between two groups of AL and BNP supporters.
In addition, because of the ballot paper crisis, voting in some centres were suspended by the authorities. The returning officer of the election, Rakib Uddin Mondol, said, The voting at nine centres, including Khortoil Monsur Ali Model School centres 1 and 2, Bor Dewra Hazi Pear Ali Government Primary School centre, Vogra Moddho Para government primary school centre, Bindan government primary school centre, Dottopara Jahan Public school centre and Konabari MEH Arif College were suspended because of fraudulent voting and snatching of ballot papers.
AL candidate Jahangir Alam went to Kanaiya Government Primary School centre at 8am and cast his vote around 9am. Later, he said to journalists: I am prepared to accept the verdict that the people will give through their votes. I am mentally prepared to win in the election. I believe that the people of Gazipur will cast votes for me. Im 100 per cent hopeful that I can ensure the victory of the boat in Gazipur.
The BNP-nominated mayoral candidate Hasan Uddin Sarker cast his vote at Bashir Uddin Udayan Academy centre at Tongi around 8:15am. After the voting, he said, BNP agents are being beaten up and driven out from the polling centres. But we will stay till the end of the elections. He was confident about his victory if the elections were held in a fair manner.
Later, at a press conference at the partys district office in Gazipur town around 1pm, Sarker demanded that the GCC elections be stopped.
The BNPs polling agents were driven out from around 100 centres. I demand that the EC stop the voting, he said.
The Election Commission (EC) said the elections were free and fair. At a post-poll briefing EC secretary Helaluddin Ahmed came up with the statement before the media at the EC secretariat in the capital yesterday.
Gazipur City polls were held in a free, fair and peaceful manner. We oversee the polls by our own observers and they informed us that the polls were free and fair. Voting in only nine polling stations has been suspended out of total 425. And the elections to the nine centres will be held soon, he said.
Replying to a query from the newsmen over the BNPs allegations, Helaluddin said he doesnt know anything about their (BNP) allegations.
