Ishraque discusses election atmosphere with US Embassy official

BNP's Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) mayoral candidate Ishraque Hossain on Friday discussed the latest election situation with US Embassy's political counselor Brent Christensen.

Ishraque held the meeting with the US Embassy official at a restaurant in the city's Gulshan area at noon.

Earlier in the morning, Brent Christensen also had a meeting with Awami League's DSCC mayoral candidate Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, Ishraque said it was a scheduled meeting as Brent Christensen had meetings with other candidates. "He had also a meeting with my rival Awami League candidate in the morning."

He said Brent Christensen wanted to know from him about the overall election atmosphere. "He also wanted to know our worries for tomorrow. I told him our reservations about the EVMs (electronic voting machines). I also informed him about the ruling party's efforts to occupy polling stations by hiring their party cadres from outside Dhaka."

The BNP candidate said he also narrated the recent incident of attack on his election campaign at Gopibagh.

He said Brent Christensen informed him that their Embassy's election monitoring team will visit some polling stations of Dhaka south and north city corporations on Saturday.

Ishraque said they are uncertain about a congenial voting atmosphere tomorrow. "As per our previous experiences, we fear the ruling party may resort to terrorism …they may try to capture polling stations flexing muscles to thwart the mass wave created in favour of Sheaf of Paddy (BNP's election symbol)."

He said their party leaders and activists this time will guard polling stations to prevent the efforts to capture centres and to create an environment conducive to holding the election in a credible manner with the presence of voters.