Jamaat-led alliance to hold protest today

An 11-party electoral alliance, led by Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, will stage a demonstration in Dhaka today (Monday) after Asar prayers, protesting alleged post-election violence and electoral irregularities across the country.
The protest will be held at the north gate of Baitul Mukarram.
The programme was announced at a press briefing following a meeting with officials at the headquarters of the Election Commission of Bangladesh in the city's Agargaon area on Sunday.
Jamaat leaders alleged various irregularities in polling and ballot counting, urging the Election Commission (EC) to recount votes in 32 constituencies.
The announcement was made by Hamidur Rahman Azad, Assistant Secretary-General of Jamaat and coordinator of the 11-party alliance's liaison committee.
"This post-election violence must stop. We want to protest against it along with the people," he said.
He warned that further street programmes would be announced if the violence does not cease.
Alleging manipulation of votes, Mr Azad said candidates of the 11-party alliance were defeated through what he described as election engineering.
"In some places, there was no fair environment during vote counting. In many cases, result sheets were tampered with, written in pencil, signed by fake polling agents, or even published without agents' signatures," he claimed.
The 11-party alliance has formally raised allegations of result manipulation in the 32 constituencies.
Mr Azad said the alliance would pursue legal action and formally demand a recount in those seats.
Although the voting process was comparatively peaceful in many areas, he claimed that an atmosphere of fear prevailed in several places.
"There was widespread ballot stuffing and the use of black money. In some areas, there were incidents of threats, intimidation, clashes and attacks," he alleged.
Representatives of the 11-party electoral alliance were also present at the briefing.

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