Crude bomb blast, ballot snatched away in Bhola: one held

Miscreants snatched away ballot paper after exploding crude bombs at a polling centre under Bhola-1 (Sadar) constituency in Sadar upazila of Bhola district on Thursday, forcing authorities to suspend votes for nearly one and a half hours, report agencies.

Omar Faruk, presiding officer of Alinagar School and College polling centre in Sadar upazila, said a group of people entered the centre after setting off crude bombs around 12:15pm.

Later, they beat up polling officials and snatched away 56 ballot papers and stamped 76 others irregularly.

Voting process was suspended for about one and half an hour due to the incident.

Sadar Upazila Nirbahi Officer Arifuzzaman along with police rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control.

Police also arrested an activist of Jamaat-e-Islami from the spot.

Meanwhile, three people including a teenage girl were injured as miscreants hurled several crude bombs at a polling centre in Gopalganj Sadar upazila during voting on Thursday morning.

The injured were identified as Ansar members Sukanta Majumdar and Jamal Hossain and Amena Khanam, 14, daughter of Assaf Ali of Arambagh area in the municipality.

The incident took place around 9:30 am at Reshma International School polling centre, leaving the two Ansar members and the girl who accompanied a voter injured, said Sub-Inspector Zahidul Islam, who was on duty at the centre.

They were given primary treatment at a local clinic and their condition is stable, police said.

The main gate of the polling centre was partially damaged due to the blast.