Bangladesh's main opposition party BNP today withdrew from the ongoing mayoral elections in the capital and northeastern port city of Chittagong, alleging that the polls were being rigged by the ruling Awami League.
"I am announcing that we are withdrawing from the polls, we are rejecting the elections as it appeared farcical," senior Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader Moudud Ahmed told reporters here.
He alleged that most of BNP's polling agents were ousted from the polling centres and the voters were being allowed to cast votes only after confirming their political affiliation for the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina-led ruling party.
BNP nominated mayoral candidate for North Dhaka City Corporation Tabith Awwal and Afroza Abbas, wife of their imprisoned candidate in South Dhaka City Corporation Mirza Abbas, accompanied Ahmed at the briefing at the party's Nayapaltan headquarters.
BNP's decision of withdrawing from the mayoral polls in Dhaka came an hour after their candidate in Chittagong and incumbent mayor of the port city Manjur Alam announced he was boycotting the elections as it was being manipulated by the ruling party activists.
"My polling agents have been ousted from different centres...I have no wish to take part in election anymore. I'm quitting politics forever (as well)," he told a press conference in Chittgong as the polling was underway.
Addressing the same press briefing in Chittagong, BNP leader Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury alleged that rigging was so rife that "we don't need to wait to see the results."
Bangladesh authorities have mobilised about 80,000 law enforcement agencies personnel and called out paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) to ensure peaceful voting with election officials saying all measures were being taken to hold peaceful and credible elections.
Bangladesh's troubled politics, which saw massive violence earlier this year, took a new turn as Khaleda Zia-led BNP last month decided to return to politics of ballot after their nearly three months of violent anti-government campaign gradually subsided.
During the protests, over 130 people were killed and about 500 suffered burn wounds as most of the casualties took place in clandestine firebomb attacks on buses and trucks by suspected activists of the BNP or its crucial ally fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami during their non-stop nationwide blockade. They also frequently enforced protracted general strikes.
Angry mobs in some cases lynched the arsonists and some were killed in clashes with security personnel.
