Dhaka: Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) senior leaders on Friday claimed that their party’s mayoral candidate could have won by much a bigger margin in Thursday’s Comilla City Corporation polls had the ruling party not been indulged in election fraud and violence.

BNP standing committee members Moudud Ahmed and Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, and vice-chairman Abdullah Al Noman came up with the similar observation at separate programmes in the city.

“I think Awami League suffered the defeat in the Comilla city polls for its misrule. Our candidate Monirul Haque Sakku could have won the election by a greater margin had there been no incidents of voting centre capturing, ballot paper snatching and stuffing and casting of fake votes,” said Moudud.

He made the remarks while talking to reporters after attending his wife Hasna Moudud’s book launching ceremony at the National Museum auditorium.

The BNP leader said their party candidates will get the similar results in other elections to be held in the days to come at different parts of the country.

Addressing a discussion of Jatiyatabadi Ethnic Minority Group at Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU), Gayeshwar said, “People went to polling stations wearing the badges of ‘Boat’ but cast votes somehow and we got victory. But we can say Awami League could have been defeated by a margin of at least 50 percent votes had the polls been free and fair.”

He said though their party won the election, no one can call it a fair balloting. “An election can’t be described as fair unless people can cast their votes without intimidation, fear and obstruction.”

The BNP leader said though the result of the election was fair, but voting was unfair. “Awami League had 2/3 groups in Comilla earlier in the past. But this time the party got united under Sheikh Hasina and joined the polls together. So, they have got defeated unitedly.”

At a discussion of Jatiya Ganotantrik Andolan at the DRU, Noman said, “The newspapers have run news stories on how the ruling party men snatched ballot papers, captured voting centres and stuffed ballots. Now one can ask how BNP won the polls. It was because of election strategy. There was no alternative for people to going to voting centres to cast vote for BNP by holding the badges of ‘Boat’. Applying the tactics, people made the BNP candidate winner.” 

He also observed that Sakku could have defeated the AL candidate by 30,000 votes had the election been fair.

BNP mayor candidate Sakku won the Comilla City Corporation polls for the 2nd straight term defeating his rival Awami League’s Anjuman Sultana Sima by a margin of 11,085 votes.

Sakku bagged 68,948 votes while Sima polled 57,863 in the 2nd election to Comilla City Corporation.