AL leader alleges party's MP was elected by vote cast at night in 2018

An Awami League leader from Moheshkhali claimed that the ruling party’s member of parliament of Cox’s Bazar-2 (Moheshkhali-Kutubdia) constituency Asheq Ullah Rafiq won by the vote cast at night before the day of election in the 2018 general election.

Asheq Ullah is the Awami League MP for two consecutive terms and has been selected as the party’s candidate in the upcoming 12th national election.

The video of AL leader Azizul Haque making the allegation has been making rounds since Monday night. Azizul was the agriculture affairs secretary of the ruling party’s Moheshkhali upazila unit. The upazila has no full-fledged committee right now as AL announced only the president and secretary of the unit several months ago.

Azizul is the younger brother of AL’s central religious affairs secretary and former Cox’s Bazar district unit president Sirajul Mostafa.

In the one-minute-five second long video, Azizul Haque was heard saying that Asheq did not need any vote since he was elected unopposed when he became MP for the first time (in 10th parliamentary election).

“When you were elected MP for the second term (in eleventh parliamentary election), we received a message at 12:01am (the night before) to cast a 60 per cent vote in our respective polling centers. So, you became an MP by the vote cast at 12 in the night.”  

Azizul made this remark while addressing a street rally in support of Bangladesh Nationalist Movement’s (BNM) candidate Md Sharif Badshah at Keruntoli area in Moheshkhali’s Howank union. Sharif Badsha is contesting the parliamentary election after resigning from the post of upazila parishad chairman. He is the former vice president of upazila AL.

In the 11th national election, AL’s Asheq Ullah Rafiq was elected MP from Cox’s Bazar-2 securing 230,091 votes. His nearest candidate Jamaat-e-Islami’s central leader and former MP Hamidur Rahman Azad bagged 18,587 votes while BNP’s Alamgir Mahfuz Ullah Farid got 11,789 votes in that election.

Azizul Haque went into hiding since the video of the speech went viral. He could not be reached despite several attempts between 12 in the noon and 5:00pm. His mobile phone was found switched off.

Upazila AL general secretary Tareq Bin Osman Sharif told Prothom Alo that he had seen the video of Azizul’s speech.

“No such incident of ballot stuffing in polling centers at night before the election took place in the 2018 election. The leaders of the party did not receive any such message to stuff 60 per cent ballots. A meeting of the party has been called to discuss the matter. We would seek Azizul to come up with proof corroborating his speech. If he cannot give any proof, we would take legal action against him,” Tareq said.

Six candidates are contesting in the constituency in the 12th parliamentary election. They are: AL candidate Asheq Ullah Rafiq, BNM candidate Sharif Badsha, Bangladesh Supreme Party candidate Mohammad Khairul Amin, Islami Oikya Jote Md Yunus, Islami Front Bangladesh’s Mohammad Ziaur Rahman and National People's Party candidate Mahabubul Alam.