Clash over ballot stuffing in Katiadi, voting halted for 2 hours
Clashes broke out over ballot stuffing in broad daylight during the fourth phase of union parishad polls at the Uttar Char Pukhia Government Primary School voting centre in Jalalpur union parshad of Kishoreganj’s Katiadi upazlia on Sunday.
Voting remained halted for at least 2 hours due to the clash.
Witnesses alleged at first supporters of A Khaleque, the chairman candidate contesting on Awami League’s electoral symbol boat, attacked the centres with sticks around 8:30am. They then snatched ballot papers from the booth and began stuffing those into the ballot box openly.
As the supporters of the party’s rebel candidate Habibur Rahman resisted, the situation went out of control, prompting a halt to the voting.
Witnesses said balloting began at 8:00am. There was long queue of voters in front of each booth. Once a voter entered the booth with a ballot paper, an agent of boat symbol had then been telling the voter to cast the ballot for the boat, creating a chaos inside the centre.
At around 8:30am, more than a hundred supporters of the boat candidate stormed into the centre. They then entered booth numbers 6 and 7 and started stamping the ballot papers. The police failed to bring the situation under control.
As the news on ballot stuffing spread, supporters of another candidate Habibur Rahman tried to resist them, leading to clashes between two groups. The voters left the centres during the clashes.
Executive magistrate Umme Hafsa Nadia, who was tasked with overseeing the centre, rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control. Voting resumed a little after 10:00am.
Executive magistrate Umme Hafsa Nadia told Prothom Alo, “We went to the centre hearing the news on the incident. We restored normalcy and voting resumed in my presence.”
Rebel candidate Habibur Rahman said, “Supporters of the boat had been trying to take over the centre since the morning. We were also ready to resist them. Supporters of the boat have exerted control not only in the Char Pukhia Government Primary School centre but also inside and outside of all other voting centres. Voters could not vote for their chosen candidates. ”
Speaking about the allegations, candidate of boat symbol A Khaleque said he would have bagged the maximum votes in the Char Pukhia centre. And, rebel candidate Habibur Rahman and his supporters know the truth. That is why they created chaos in a planned way and obstructed ballot casting, he added.