BNP activists besiege Pabna district admin office demanding vote recount

Thousands of BNP activists have besieged the office of Pabna district administrator, demanding authorities recount the votes in two constituencies, where the candidates from the party have lost.

Assistant Commissioner Abdul Alim told reporters that the district administrator, also the returning officer in Pabna, held talks with the two aggrieved BNP candidates and assured them of forwarding their demands to the Election Commission.

In the evening, the two candidates left the office, but the siege continued.

Security has been tightened around the building.

The two BNP candidates, Hasan Jafir of Pabna-3 and Habibur Rahman of Pabna-4, have lost by narrow margins of 2.2% and 2.73% respectively to their Jamaat counterparts.

The protesting BNP activists alleged that in both the constituencies there was an abnormal number of rejected votes, BNP polling agents were forced to sign on result sheets in many polling centres, and there were discrepancies in the vote counts of different polling centres.

Unless authorities start recounting the votes, stricter demonstrations will be enforced, the agitators warned.