80pc polling centres vulnerable [ Tritiyo Matra News ]

80pc polling centres vulnerable

Local December 20, 2016

Electioneering in the Narayanganj city polls, scheduled for Thursday, will end midnight today while about 80 per cent polling stations have been spotted as vulnerable.
‘Candidates and their activists have been asked to stop electioneering from midnight past Tuesday,’ returning officer Nuruzzzaman Talukder told New Age on Monday.
He said that 22 platoons of Border Guard of Bangladesh were deployed in the city area as striking force and 27 executive magistrates were working to check violation of the electoral code of conduct.
He said that 137 of the 174 police centres and at least seven of the 154 candidates for the positions of councillor were under special surveillance and 24 security personnel would be deployed at every polling centre.
He also said that election materials including ballot papers and ballot boxes had already been sent to his office from the Election Commission.
On Monday, the main opposition in the parliament, Jatiya Party, extended its support to the ruling Awami League-nominated mayoral candidate, Selina Hayat Ivy.
At a programme at district Awami League office, Jatiya Party presidium member SM Faisal Chishty said that the party had not no candidate to contest the mayoral polls as the Awami League had not participated in the by-election for Narayanganj-5 parliamentary constituency won by Jatiya Party candidate.
‘We have extended our support to Selina Hayat Ivy as part of the party decision,’ he said.
Mayor candidate Rashed Ferdous, who was expelled from the Bangladesh Kalyan Party on December 5, pulled out of the election on Monday, extending his support to BNP candidate Sakhawat Hossain.
He made the announcement at a press conference at BNP’s media cell office in Narayanganj.
Earlier on Saturday, Liberal Democratic Party-nominated mayoral candidate Kamal Prodhan also pulled out of the election extending his support to Sakhawat.
Shakhawat announced his 25-ponit election manifesto at the BNP media centre on Monday.
In the manifesto, Sakhawat pledged to form an advisory committee with representatives from different sectors of the society to build a bridge over river Sitalakhya and set up public libraries with the facilities of information and communications technology.
During electioneering at ward-13, Ivy said that she worked for development of the city and fought against violence in her past tenure as the city mayor.
‘I want to continue the development activities and fight against violence,’ she said.
During electioneering at Chasara, Shakhawat criticised the deployment of border guards as striking force saying that striking force would work after commission of an offence.
He alleged that AL activists were intimidating voters.
Returning officer Nuruzzzaman said that the situation was peaceful till Monday night.
He said that the Election Commission received some allegation of violation of electoral code of conduct by some candidates.
Following the complaints, executive magistrates fined 16 councillor candidates and warned some other councillor candidates, he said.