BNP criticises CEC's fair UP polls claim

BNP yesterday lambasted the chief election commissioner for his comment before journalists on Tuesday that the first phase of the union parishad polls was largely fair and acceptable.

Addressing a discussion Jatiya Jubo Jagpa organised in the capital's Bangladesh Photo Journalists' Association marking Independence Day, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said Rakibul Islam's comment did not reflect the reality as 12 persons died and over 500 were injured in the polls violence.

"We have seen in the media that widespread violence and irregularities took place across the country during the polls...If this is the situation, where and to whom will people go to?" said the party's leader. Fakhrul also alleged that the election system has been destroyed to impose a one-party rule in the country. At one stage, he said to have lost interest in talking about the election system, and commission. "The government has gradually destroyed all the democratic institutions and basic structures of the state. There are killings, violence, uncertainty and chaos everywhere as no single democratic institution exists," he observed.