Neither scope nor environment for fair polls: JaPa candidate

There is no conducive environment for holding a fair election in Sylhet City Corporation (SCC), alleged Jatiya Party candidate Nazrul Islam Babul on Wednesday.

He said this to media after casting his vote at Anand Niketan polling centre in Subidbazar of Sylhet at around 9:30 in the morning.

“I want to inform the city dwellers through you that I have come to vote at Anand Niketan centre. Upon coming here I saw muscle power is being used. There are some people, who have kept volunteer cards hanging around their neck, are not polling agents. They are threatening and harassing our voters. Many of our agents have been thrown out of the polling centres forcefully,” said Nazrul Islam Babul.

The JaPa candidate also said, “They have drawn a blue print of how to rig the election. I have sent my polling agents to all the centres in 42 wards. But I have been getting phone calls from the morning that my agents are not being allowed to enter the centres. They are being thrown out forcefully. If muscle power is used in Sylhet this way, the polls will not be fair. There is neither any scope nor environment for fair voting here.”

Asked whether he filed any complaint to the returning officer about the allegations, Nazrul Islam told reporters that the returning officer is in a certain side's pocket. The administration, the election commission, returning officer – everyone is under the influence the AL candidate.

When he was asked about accepting the results, he said that he would provide with his reaction once the voting is completed .

* The report has been rewritten in English by Shameem Reza