Independent candidate Rumeen Farhana has accused security forces of detaining three of her campaign workers and barring her polling agents from nine polling centres in the Brahmanbaria-2 constituency.
She made the allegation after casting her vote at the Shahbazpur North Government Primary School polling station in Sarail upazila around 9:15am on Thursday.
Rumeen said she informed the police, army and local administration about the incident.
“Three of my workers were detained without any reason. In addition, polling agents were removed from nine centres,” she told reporters. Asked about the voting situation, she said it was too early to assess as voting had started only two hours earlier.
Local sources said police detained Anwar Hossain Mridha and Nur Alam from Noagaon East Government Primary School polling centre in Ashuganj around 1am on Wednesday. Another supporter, Nasir Munshi, a former Jubo Dal leader, was detained from the Sohagpur Ashiya Safiuddin Adarsha Secondary School polling centre in Durgapur Union of Ashuganj. All three are supporters of Farhana.
Sarail Police Station Officer-in-Charge Manzur Kader Bhuiyan said the workers were detained for security reasons at the polling centres.
Brahmanbaria-2 has nine candidates, though eight are contesting. The main contest is between independent candidate Rumeen Farhana and BNP-backed candidate Junaid Al Habib, vice-president of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Bangladesh. Former Jatiya Party MP Ziaul Haque Mridha withdrew from the race on Sunday.
