A Summary Trial Court in Sherpur has sentenced a BNP supporter to three years of rigorous imprisonment and fined him Tk5,000 for illegally stamping ballot papers, snatching ballots and casting fraudulent votes for BNP.
Senior Judicial Magistrate Md Hasan Bhuiyan delivered the verdict on Thursday afternoon.
The convict, Md Masud Mia, 35, son of late Abul Hashem of Nolbaid area under Sadar upazila, will be sent to jail, said Officer-in-Charge of Sadar Police Station Md Sohel Rana.
According to police and election office sources, the incident took place between 9:50am and 11:05am at Nolbaid Moddhyo Para Government Primary School polling centre under Sherpur-1 constituency.
Several supporters of a BNP-nominated candidate allegedly took control of the centre, forced out rival agents and began casting illegal votes.
They stamped 26 ballot papers with the sheaf of paddy symbol and dropped them into the ballot box. More than 100 additional ballot papers were stamped but seized before they could be deposited.
On receiving information, Executive Magistrate Shivraj Chowdhury, along with law enforcement and an army patrol team, rushed to the centre and brought the situation under control.
Masud Mia was detained from the spot and later produced before the summary court, which handed down the sentence.
At the same time, Md Belal Hossain, 48, a Jamat activist and son of Habibur Rahman of the same area, was fined Tk 2,000 for breaching election rules.
