Hours ahead of the general elections in the country, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Wednesday accused Islamist political party Jamaat-e-Islami of attempting to sabotage the poll process by distributing money to voters, The Hindu reported.
The claims came after a Jamaat-e-Islami leader was held with 74 lakh taka earlier in the day at Saidpur airport in north Bangladesh, The Daily Star reported.
However, the Jamaat-e-Islami rejected the allegations, saying that the incident was a “staged drama” by law enforcement agencies.
Voting is currently underway for the general elections in Bangladesh.
This is the first election since former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted after she had fled to India in August 2024 following several weeks of widespread student-led protests against her Awami League government. She had been in power for 16 years.
After her ouster, Nobel laureate economist Muhammad Yunus took over as the head of Bangladesh’s interim government. On Thursday, with the first post-Hasina elections, the interim government’s term will be coming to an end.
Ahead of the elections, Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader Mahdi Amin asked how the Jamaat-e-Islami leader allegedly caught with the money at the Saidpur airport obtained the amount “at a time when all banks, financial institutions, business transactions and activities are closed to prevent illegal financial dealings” during polling, The Hindu reported.
A four-day public holiday had been declared in the country during which banks were not operating.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader said there was “no scope” to view it as an isolated incident, The Daily Star reported. Describing it as a “breach” of the electoral code of conduct, he said that the incident was an attempt to spread “unethical influence”.
Later in the day, Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader Nazrul Islam Khan also urged party workers and voters to guard polling centres and not to leave them until the results were declared, The Daily Star reported.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader alleged that the party had received about 127 complaints claiming that Jamaat-e-Islami leaders were detained with cash while attempting to influence voters, engaging in ballot stuffing and intimidating voters.
“On the path to the election, there are many obstacles, and efforts are being made in different ways to create more barriers,” The Daily Star quoted him as saying. “Some are doing this because they do not like the restoration of democracy. Others are doing it because they think they have little chance of winning.”
At a press conference after the incident at Saidpur airport, the Jamaat-e-Islami claimed that concerted attempts were being made to project the party in a negative light ahead of Thursday’s polling, The Hindu reported.
Ahsanul Mahboob Zubair, assistant secretary general of the Islamist political party, said that the party leader who had been held at the airport had received a no-objection certificate from the Hazrat Shah Jalal International Airport’s security wing in Dhaka before flying out to Saidpur.
He accused the local security establishment of disregarding the clearance given in Dhaka.
In the absence of the Awami League, whose activities remain banned, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Jamaat-e-Islami have been pitted against each other in the elections.
Over the past few days, the two parties have clashed on several occasions. On Tuesday, a Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader in the Bogura city was injured after he was attacked by Jamaat-e-Islami supporters.
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