A journalist has been arrested in Khulna in a case filed under the Digital Security Act for publishing “false” information on the number of votes cast in a constituency during Sunday's polls.

Hedayet Hossain Mollah, local correspondent of the Dhaka Tribune, was arrested yesterday, a day after the case was filed against two reporters, including him, with Batiaghata Police Station in the district.

The other accused is Rashidul Islam, staff reporter of the daily Manab Zamin, reports our correspondent in Khulna.

According to the initial announcement of the election results, the number of votes cast in Khulna-1 was higher than the total number of voters in the constituency. As the matter was brought to the returning officer's attention, he said it was a mistake and later came up with a correction, said local journalists.

By the time the correction could be made, the two media outlets ran reports saying the number of votes cast was around 22,000 higher than the actual number of voters, they said.

Documents provided by the returning officer's office showed 45,000 of the 2,59,420 voters did not cast their ballots.

Batiaghata Upazila Nirbahi Officer Debashish Chowdhury, also the assistant returning officer, filed the case against the two journalists.

The case statement said the accused published false, fabricated and provocative information on the voting with the use of electronic devices, including laptops, which might confuse people and create a chaotic situation.

Such activities made the “fair election” questionable, the statement said.

Mahabubur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Batiaghata Police Station, told The Daily Star that they arrested Hedayet near Gallamary Bridge in connection with the case.

However, several witnesses said the journalist was picked up near Picture Palace intersection in the city when he was returning home from the Khulna Press Club.

Hedayet's wife Sayida Laila Akhter told this newspaper that she called her husband over the phone but another man picked it up and introduced himself as the OC of the police station.

“Last night, the returning officer had requested my husband to apologise for the news. Otherwise, he said my husband would face action,” she said.

Despite repeated attempts, the RO could not be reached over the phone for comments.

Handcuffed, Hedayet was produced before a district court which sent him to jail.

Meanwhile, a former deputy secretary of the Election Commission has been picked up by detectives in the city's Agargaon area for “leaking information on the election”.

Shamsul Alam was allegedly collecting election results submitted to the commission from across the country and sending those to “others”, said police and EC sources.

He was picked up near the Nirbachan Commission office on Monday night, they said.

GG Biswas, officer-in-charge of Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station, said the official was kept at the DB office on Mintoo Road.

Abdul Baten, additional commissioner (detectives) of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said they picked up Shamsul for interrogation. 

The Jatiya Party is considering curtailing the special powers of its chairman mentioned in the party charter.

The charter says the chairman can form, reconstitute, and scrap any committee at any level even if the action goes against the other parts of the JP constitution.

“We yesterday decided to amend section 20/1/Ka of the party’s constitution that empowers its chairman to make any decision unilaterally,” JP Secretary General Moshiur Rahman Ranga told reporters after the meeting of Jatiya Party Parliamentary Party (JPPP).

The party council slated for November 30 will make the final decision about the amendment, he said after the meeting at the office of Raushan Ershad, deputy leader of the opposition in parliament.

Ranga added that the section would be made more democratic through the amendment. But he did not elaborate further in this regard.

The JPPP also decided that Raushan would be the leader of the opposition in parliament and GM Quader would remain the chairman, he added. 

Hours after the meeting, Quader wrote to Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, urging her to make Raushan the leader of the opposition. The post fell vacant after former JP chairman HM Ershad died on July 14.

The Speaker later told journalists that she would take measures accordingly.

Twenty-four JP lawmakers out of 25 were present at the JPPP meeting, Ranga said.

Talking to reporters, he claimed there is no more conflict in the JP now.

He added that the party would nominate Ershad’s son Saad Ershad to contest the by-polls to Rangpur-3, which became vacant after the death of Ershad.

Earlier at a press conference at the JP chairman’s Banani office, Ranga said the two feuding groups of the party finally reached an understanding to keep the party united, accepting Quader as its chairman and Raushan the leader of the opposition in parliament.

Amid conflict over the posts of party chairman and leader of the opposition, the leaders loyal to Quader and Raushan had a meeting at a city hotel on Saturday night and made some decisions to avoid a split in the party. 

“We had a controversy over the post of our party chairman, and we resolved it yesterday [Saturday]. GM Quader will act as the chairman as per the directive of our late founder chairman HM Ershad,” Ranga said.

Ranga said there are some leaders in every party who want to fish in troubled waters, and create divisions for their personal gains. “But we’ve been able to remove the division and we’re now united.”

A day after Quader’s letter for officially recognising him as the leader of the opposition, JP Senior Co-chairman Raushan on Wednesday wrote to the Speaker not to accept it, exposing a fresh conflict in the party.

In the letter sent to the Speaker, Raushan said Quader sent the letter without any decision at the party forum and meeting of the JPPP.

On Thursday, a group of JP leaders declared Raushan its chairperson, putting the party on the verge of a split.

At a press conference on July 18, Ranga formally declared Ershad’s younger brother Quader the party chairman.

Ranga said before his death, Ershad through an organisational instruction announced that Quader would be the party chairman in his absence. 

Four days later, Raushan in a statement said Quader could not be declared the party chairman without any decision at the party forum.

BNP PICKS RITA FOR RANGPUR-3

The BNP yesterday picked Rita Rahman, chief of People’s Party of Bangladesh, a component of the 20-party alliance, as its candidate to contest the Rangpur-3 by-polls scheduled for October 5.

Party Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi made the announcement

at a press conference at the party’s Nayapaltan central office yesterday.

He said Rita is the daughter of BNP founder member Moshiur Rahman Jadu Mia.

Rahgir Al Mahi alias Saad Ershad, the eldest son of late Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad, today bought the party’s nomination form to contest the Rangpur-3 by-polls that fell vacant following his father’s death.

Saad, flanked by some party senior leaders, collected the nomination form from Jatiya Party chairman’s Banani office this noon.

With Saad, a total of four aspirants have so far collected the nomination form to contest the Rangpur-3 by-election scheduled to be held on October 5.

According to the election schedule announced by the Election Commission, the deadline for the submission of nomination papers is September 9.

The date for scrutinising the nomination papers is September 11 and the last date for withdrawal of candidature is September 16.

Earlier, Jatiya Party presidium member Fakhar-uz-Zaman Jahangir, its joint general secretary and Rangpur city unit general secretary SM Yasir, executive committee member and Ershad’s niece Mehejebunnesa Rahman Tumpa collected the party nomination form to contest the by-polls.

SM Yasir collected party nomination paper taking Ershad’s another son Eric Ershad with him, sparking criticism by a section of party leaders.

The party’s nomination seekers will have to submit their nomination forms by 5:00pm on Thursday next.

Later, a party nomination board, headed by its chairman GM Quader, will finalise the candidate after interviewing the aspirants on September 6.

While talking to reporters at the party’s Banani office, Quader termed Rangpur-3 constituency is a vote bank of the JP expressing hope that leaders, activists and supporters of his party will work unitedly for the victory of the party nominated candidate in the election.

Responding to a query over, he said there is no difference or feud in the party, but if anyone breaches the party rule of discipline, the party will take action accordingly.

The JP will select the leader of the opposition party in the parliament before the next session of the national parliament, Quader told a questioner.