Tarique warns of vote rigging

BNP Chairman Tarique Rahman on Monday urged people across the country to remain alert as he alleges attempts are underway to obstruct the upcoming election, make it controversial and manipulate the results through election engineering, particularly during vote counting.

"A political party has become desperate to make the election controversial and obstruct it. You must stay extremely alert and vigilant," he said while addressing a massive election rally at Jashore Upashahar Degree College ground on Monday afternoon, reports UNB.

The BNP chief also alleged that a particular political party is trying to sabotage the electoral process and deliberately create confusion to open the door for rigging.

"We are hearing that counting of votes may take unusually long. Those who want to delay the process must be closely watched," he said, adding that people know how much time vote counting normally takes.

Calling the February-12 election a contest between patriotic and anti-national forces, Tarique warned that attempts are being made to snatch people's voting rights that were achieved through a long struggle over the last 16 years.

He earlier addressed an election rally in Khulna and later joined the Jashore programme, where he introduced BNP candidates from seven districts of the Jashore and Kushtia regions and called upon voters to cast their ballots for the party's candidates and its alliance partners.

In an oblique reference to a recent controversial remark allegedly made by the Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer about working women, he strongly criticised what he described as vulgar and offensive language against women.

In Khulna, BNP Chairman Tarique Rahman strongly criticised Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami over its Ameer's reported anti-women comments on social media, urging women to deliver a befitting response through the ballot to what he termed derogatory and disgraceful remarks. Addressing an election rally at Khalishpur Prabhati School ground, he also said the country and its people can never be safe-whether men or women-under those who do not respect women and have a history of dishonouring them during the Liberation War.

"As the election has arrived, different political parties will naturally present their goals and plans before the people. But what we are seeing is that one political party wants to keep half of the country's population women confined within their homes," the BNP chief said.