Jatiya Party and Zaker Party candidates reject polls

 
Two of the four contestants in the Lakshmipur-3 by election have boycotted voting.

Jatiya Party candidate Mohammad Raqib Hossain and Zaker Party candidate Shamsul Karim Khokon announced the boycott at the Lakshmipur Press Club on Sunday afternoon.

"The ruling party people forced out my agents from 90 percent poll centres," Raqib alleged. "They were also rigging the vote. The poll centres were empty since morning, but ballots were already cast. Who were the people casting their votes?" Zaker Party candidate Khokon said the administration assured him of a fair election from the beginning. "But now the administration is silent."

"The ruling party people are casting false votes. They have deployed their musclemen to the poll centres. I am boycotting the voting as there's no suitable environment for it," he said.

Returning Officer Farhad Hossain said one candidate filed a complaint with them about vote rigging and irregularities. "We're looking into the matter," he said.

Farhad, however, said they monitored many poll centres and found a fair election environment prevailing there.
The Lakshmipur-3 parliament seat became vacant following the death of MP AKM Shahjahan Kamal. The Election Commission announced the seat vacant on Oct 4.

The other two contestants for the seat were Awami League nominee Golam Farook Pinku and National People's Party candidate Selim Mahmud.
The constituency is home to 403,744 voters. The voting opened in 115 poll centres in 12 unions at 8 am and continued until 4 pm on Sunday.
 

>>Mashiul Islam, AA