The Awami League (AL) yesterday claimed that the Gazipur City Corporation (GCC) election was held in a free, fair and peaceful way. “Among a total of 425 polling stations, voting was suspended at nine such centres. Therefore, I will say that, the Gazipur civic poll was held in a free, fair and peaceful manner, except for some stray incidents,” said AL general secretary Obaidul Quader. He was addressing a post-poll briefing at AL president Sheikh Hasina’s Dhanmondi political office in the city yesterday.

Quader, who is also the minister for roads and bridges, expressed optimism that the AL-nominated mayoral candidate, Jahangir Alam, would win by a huge margin as the people were satisfied with the development work carried out by the Sheikh Hasina-led government.

He said people did not believe in lip service anymore, but only wanted development. He claimed that people would not vote for the BNP as it had not done anything for the betterment of the country during its tenure.

Quader also alleged that BNP leaders had tried to create anarchy in the GCC poll in a bid to make it controversial, but eventually failed to do so. About the BNP’s allegations of vote rigging by ruling party workers, the AL leader said the BNP was spreading lies about Tuesday’s city polls, sensing the defeat of its party candidate. “It’s an old habit of BNP leaders to spread lies. Elections are always free and fair when they manage to win an election. Otherwise, they accuse the opponet of vote rigging,” he added. Thanking the people of Gazipur city for casting their votes in favour of the AL, Quader said Gazipur residents wanted development and hence voted for the ruling party in yesterday’s polls. “The people would vote us to power again in the next general election to keep up the pace of development,” he added.

The minister, however, thanked the BNP candidate for staying in the race until the end of the election.