Hero Alom ‘attacked’ during Dhaka-17 by-poll

Staff Reporter :
Followers of the ruling Awami League-nominated candidate for Dhaka-17 by-poll have assaulted independent MP candidate Hero Alam alias Ashraful Alam after forcing him to leave a polling centre. The attackers were wearing boat symbol badges. The independent MP candidate came under attack while visiting a polling centre at the Banani Bidyaniketan School and College at around 2:45 pm on Monday.

Alam was taken to a hospital in Rampura of the capital and was being treated in the hospital’s emergency department.

Takseer Tasrim Khushboo, customer care officer of the hospital said that Hero Alam was brought there at around 4pm.
Abdullah Al Masum, assistant commissioner of the Gulshan zone, said that the situation at the Banani polling centre grounds is normal now.
However, the Election Commission has claimed that the by-polls were held free fair with a peaceful environment as no violence and untoward incident happened.
Another independent candidate Tarikul Islam Bhuiyan, chairman of JonotarAdhikar Party, has boycotted the Dhaka-17 less than two hours after the start of balloting.
Tarikul, who was contesting the polls with the electoral symbol ‘Truck’, said: “Fair elections are not possible under this government, it has been proved once again. So, I decided to withdraw from this election.”

At one point, Hero Alam had to flee to save himself. However, the leaders and activists of the ruling party chased him. Hero Alam then hopped onto a rickshaw on Road 23, Banani area. Later, his car arrived and the MP candidate left the place.
Hero Alam was visiting a women’s polling centre at the Banani Bidyaniketan School and College at around 3:00 pm. At the time, supporters of the AL-nominated candidate started hurling abuse at him and ordered him to leave the centre.

As the situation worsened, the on-duty police escorted him towards the main gate and the agitated AL activists followed. After that Hero Alam tried to leave the place quickly, but the ruling party activists shoved him from behind and started beating him up.

Hero Alam’s associates rescued him and tried taking him to a safer place. However, the ruling party activists chased him until reaching Road 23 of Banani ‘A’ block.
The agitated ruling party activists were calling out, “He (Hero Alam) is a ‘TikToker’, a clown. Why does he want to be the MP of Dhaka-17 constituency? Does he know the meaning of a MP?”Some of the attackers were saying, “Just chase him. There is no need to beat him.”The police arrested one of the attackers after Hero Alam left the place.
When asked who was involved in the attack on Hero Alam, Gulshan Police Station Officer In-Charge BM Forman Ali refused to make any comment at this time.
Action will be taken after reviewing video footages and photos of the attack on Hero Alam, said Returning Officer Monir Hossain.

In response to questions from reporters, the returning officer said, Hero Alom was not beaten inside the polling station. Police escorted him out.
Around 3:00pm on Monday, Alam went to pay a visit at the polling centre in Banani’s Bidyaniketan School and College grounds.
According to locals present at the scene, Alam was clicking pictures with fans and a group of people came to him saying this was not the time or place to shoot TikTok content.When he retorted, they chased him around and assaulted him physically, they said. Law enforcers intervened and Alam then managed to get away in a car.
The incident took place while a meeting was held this afternoon at the European Union’s Gulshan 2 office, where journalists expressed their concern over the Digital Security Act to the visiting Election Observation Mission.

Earlier on Monday, Alam alleged that his agents are being barred from entering the polling stations and that the AL activists and leaders harassed several of them.
“The ruling party’s activists have resorted to intimidating tactics to oust my agents. They physically assaulted some of our agents, including women, and barred them from entering the polling centres,” said the independent candidate at Banani Model School centre this morning.
Asked in which polling centres his agents faced trouble entering, he mentioned Bhashantek Govt Primary School, Adamji Cantonment College, Matikata High School, and Jamia Madrasa centres.
Alam expressed concern about the fairness of the election.”However, I’m determined to remain in the electoral race until the end,” he said.