The army has described as “false” the allegation that the polling agent of Nasiruddin Patwary, candidate of the 11-party electoral alliance in the Dhaka-8 constituency, was barred from entering a polling centre.
An on-duty army officer officially told the media, “We verified the complaint and found no truth to it.” However, that army officer did not agree to reveal his name.
Earlier in the morning, Nasiruddin Patwary raised the allegation that his polling agent had been obstructed from entering at the Mirza Abbas Women’s College centre in the capital’s Shahjahanpur area.
He lodged this complaint with the Presiding Officer upon visiting the Mirza Abbas Women’s College centre at 11:30am. Afterwards, he spoke with journalists.
Patwary said, “I have visited many centres since morning. Voting is fair in many places. But at the Mirza Abbas Women’s College centre, our agent was allowed to enter after a delay of one hour. And he was not allowed to work for three hours. We want to know what happened inside this centre during those three hours.”
In response to his complaint, the army personnel, identifying himself as the army officer in charge of the centre, said, “We learned through various media that the agent of the Shapla Koli symbol was not allowed to enter the centre for 3 hours. However, I have spoken with the presiding officer, I have spoken with the agents of the Shapla Koli symbol. They said there was no problem entering. They were at the centre since 7:30 AM.”
The army officer said, “When they came to the centre, they were only asked to identify themselves. After confirming their identity, they were allowed to enter the centre before voting began.”
