‘It was a farce, not election’, says BNP

Bringing various allegations of irregularities including driving out of its candidates' polling agents from many polling stations, BNP on Saturday alleged that "a farce was staged" in the name of elections to two Dhaka city corporations.

"What today held in the name of elections to Dhaka south and north city corporations was nothing but a farce", said BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir at the party's Nayapaltan central office.

Around half an hour after the voting ended, Fakhrul came up with his party's instant reaction to the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) and Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) polls.

He, however, said their party will give its formal reaction to the election after the Election Commission (EC) announces the results.

Fakhrul said there was no scope for reflection of people's opinion in the election the way it was held today. "The election was not free and fair at all," he said.

The balloting for the elections to the two Dhaka city corporations began at 8am and concluded at 4pm without any break. Electronic Voting Machines or EVMs were fully used this time instead of traditional ballot papers.