58 incidents of political violence from Nov 14-30

Of them, the 14-party supporters were the perpetrators in 64 per cent incidents whereas 4-party supporters were the perpetrators in 55 per cent incidents while the perpetrators were both the supporters of both alliances in 24 per cents, the report added.

Odhikar, a human rights organisation, in association with International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES), organised a press conference at the National Press Club in the city yesterday for releasing its third report prepared with the support of The Asia Foundation.

Election Violence Education and Resolution (EVER), a project of Odhikar, prepared the report titled 'Election Violence in Bangladesh: Report 3' on the basis of the information of its observers who worked in 45 constituencies from November 14 to 30 this year.

Most of the incidents of violence took place on November 14 when the 14-party alliance enforced their blockade programme, he said.

When asked about the goal of the project, Saidur Rahman, programme coordinator of EVER said their goal is to track the incidents of violence ahead of the general election in order to reduce them and create public opinion.

The report has been sent to the Election Commission, local and civil administration and different political parties, he added.

Lisa Kamerud, research coordinator of IFES, Angela Peltzer, programme coordinator of IFES, and Nasir Uddin Elan, office-in-charge of Odhikar also spoke.