Dhaka: Violence continues to rage across Bangladesh as the country votes during the 13th parliamentary election on Thursday. Nasiruddin Patwari, a candidate for the 11-party alliance and leader of the National Citizens Party (NCP), was reportedly attacked as he was visiting a polling booth in the Dhaka-8 constituency.
Bangladesh’s leading Bengali daily Jugantor reported that Patwari was attacked while speaking to reporters at the centre around 12 noon on Thursday. Safely rescued by the law enforcement forces, he later alleged that the supporters of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) candidate Mirza Abbas were behind “vote theft” and attacks.
“While he was speaking, supporters of Mirza Abbas shouted slogans of ‘Fake Fake’. At one point, they were chased and the attack took place,” reported Jugantor.
In a social media post, the NCP leader stated that voting is being done by “Mirza Abbas’s terrorist forces” and the BNP leaders and activists attacked him in the presence of the local administration.
Election Day in Bangladesh has been marred by violence.
Violence erupted at several polling booths across the country on Thursday, leading to the death of a political leader as the voting was underway across the nation, local media reported.
The incidents started unfolding after polling began early morning, reflecting the deteriorating law and order situation and volatile security landscape in Bangladesh.
Amid the escalating violence, a Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader, Mohibuzzaman Kochi, died at the Alia Madrasa polling station in Khulna district.
Citing eyewitnesses and police, Jugantor reported that tension arose between BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami supporters on Thursday morning near the Alia Madras Academic Building.
Former Khulna Sadar Thana BNP organising secretary Yusuf Harun Majnu said, “There was tension at the centre since morning. The principal of Alia Madrasa was campaigning for Jamaat. When he stopped him, he pushed Mohibuzzaman Kochi. As a result, he hit a tree and got hit on the head. This is what caused his death.”
Confirming the incident, Khulna Sadar Police Station Sub Inspector Khan Faisal Rafi, in charge of the centre, said, “When tension arose between the two parties, we immediately went to the spot and separated the two parties.”
Emergency Medical Officer at Khulna City Medical College Hospital, Partha Roy, told Jugantor that the BNP leader Kochi was brought dead to the hospital.
In another incident on Thursday morning, a cocktail bomb attack at a polling station in Gopalganj Sadar Upazila during voting left three people injured. The incident occurred at the Reshma International School polling station in Gopalganj district.
Bangladesh’s high-stakes parliamentary elections are unfolding amid escalating political conflict and violence, with several parties raising concerns over the fairness of the polls.
(IANS)
