Assault on polls official
Case filed against Ctg lawmaker
STAFF REPORTER, Ctg
A case was filed with Banshkhali police station yesterday against ruling Awami League (AL) lawmaker Mostafizur Rahman Chowdhury and some others for assaulting upazila election official Zahid Hossain on Wednesday. I have received a written order from Election Commission (EC) of Dhaka to file a case for assaulting government official. We have recorded the case as per direction of EC Dhaka, said Mohammad Alamgir, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Banshkhali police station. The case filed under penal code sections 353, 343/34 accused MP Mostafizur Rahman, Banshkhali Upzila Awami Olama League President Moulovi Akhter and Tajul Islam, private secretary to the MP and also a chairman aspirant of Barharchara union parishad, and some unnamed people for assaulting the election official, said police sources. On Wednesday, MP Mostafizur Rahman Chowdhury, lawmaker of Chittagong-16 constituency and his followers had allegedly assaulted upazila election official Zahid Hossain and driven him out of the area for not appointing the MPs chosen men as polling officers for the union parishad polls. Following the incident, the EC postponed the polling in 14 UPs in Banshkhali upzila scheduled to be held during the sixth phase of UP polls today. Zahid, the assaulted election official, said on Wednesday, For this reason, the MP summoned me to the upazila nirbahi officers (UNO) office at Banshkhali. The MP called me names while demanding to know why I did not appoint all the presiding officers and assistant presiding officers from his list. When I told him that I had done my job as per the law regarding elections, he and his followers started beating me, the election official told reporters.
