Claiming that Awami League’s victory was ensured through “election engineering” in the Khulna City Corporation election, BNP mayoral candidate Nazurl Islam Monju on Wednesday demanded re-election in 105 polling centres.
Addressing a press briefing at the local BNP office in the city’s KD Road, he also demanded taking steps after investigation into serious irregularities at 45 polling stations.
"Democracy has been jeopardized and the next general election has become uncertain as a result," he said.
Monju also claimed that citizens of Khulna have rejected the results of Tuesday’s “rigged” election.
Describing the election as an unprecedented model of vote rigging, the BNP leader said the government and the Election Commission were defeated morally as they had to arrange such “farcical election.”
He also said Khulna city polls had proved that no fair election could be held in this country under the Sheikh Hasina government and with the Election Commission subservient to it.
On Tuesday, Awami League candidate Talukder Abdul Khaleque was elected as the new Khulna city mayor securing 174,851 votes, while his nearest rival Monju got 109,251 votes.
The voting was held amid alleged takeover of polling stations, vote fraud, and even violence in some areas of the city.
