No polling agents are barred: DMP Commissioner No violence reported in Dhaka-17 by-polls: EMF

Staff Reporter :
Despite allegations from some independent candidates that their agents were driven out from polling centres, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Khandker Golam Faruq said they have not heard of any agent being barred from polling centres during the Dhaka-17 by-polls.

Independent candidates Md Tarikul Islam and Ashraful Alom (Hero Alom) alleged that their agents were driven out from polling centres by ruling party men.
On the other hand, Chairman of the Election Monitoring Forum (EMF) Abed Ali said that the Dhaka-17 by-polls are held smoothly, and no untoward incident has been reported from anywhere. However, he said that the ruling party men physically assaulted independent candidates Md Tarikul Islam and Ashraful Alom (Hero Alom).

“In the room where I voted, I saw that out of six or seven candidates, two or three candidates had agents.” Khandker Golam Faruq said after casting his vote at Banani Bidyaniketan School and College centre on Monday.

He added that the polling environment was overall good but the voter turnout was low.
Earlier in the day, Dhaka-17 constituency MP candidate, Ashraful Alom, popularly known as Hero Alom, alleged that several of his polling agents were harassed at the Banani Model High School polling centre.
He said members of the law enforcement agencies did not let the polling agents stay at the centre as well.
“Supporters of Awami League-nominated candidate forcefully drove out my agents from several polling centres,” he claimed while visiting Banani Model School centre around 10:30am.
“Besides, my agents were beaten and they were barred from entering the polling booths at some centres,” he alleged.

Just three hours after voting began, independent candidate Md Tarikul Islam withdrew from the Dhaka-17 by-elections, saying there was no environment for fair polls to take place.
“The environment is not conducive for fair polls. No election can be held in a fair manner under this government,” he said after visiting the polling centre at Banani High School around 10:45am.
Talking to journalists, Tarikul claimed his agents were driven out from polling centres and he was also physically assaulted when he visited one of the centres.
Monir Hossain Khan, the returning officer, said that they got a verbal complaint in this regard from Hero Alom, but found no truth to the allegations.
However, “We visited as election observers on behalf of SAARC Human Rights Foundation and Election Monitoring Forum. The polling is taking place peacefully, I have not received any complaints,” Chairman of the Election Monitoring Forum Abed Ali said.

He made the comments at the capital’s Banani Bidyaniketan School and College centre on Monday.
Abed Ali also said that he had spoken to the agents of various candidates. “I have not received any complaints from them. No one is intimidating the voting agents anywhere.”
The number of voters is 325,205 under 125 polling stations in the Dhaka-17 constituency, which comprises wards 15,18,19 and 20 of Dhaka North City Corporation as well as the Dhaka cantonment area.