Police have stepped up monitoring of city hotels and messes as they are strictly checking the identities of guests and boarders ahead of Sunday's national election.

The number of guests and boarders came down due to the move which was launched early this month, said staffers of some hotels and messes in Mirpur, Farmgate and East Tejturibazar areas.

Besides, police were also visiting flats and homes in Mirpur area to check the identities of the dwellers, said locals. 

Law enforcers asked landlords to submit tenant information forms to them soon after filling those out.

Police, however, didn't give any specific reason for such a move.

Talking to The Daily Star on Friday, a staff of Royal Grand Hotel in East Tejturibazar said, “We have been seeing a sharp drop in the number of guests since the beginning of this month.” 

Almost all the 60 rooms of the five-storey hotel used to be occupied by guests around the year. But it was having fewer guests since for over two weeks as it refused many who failed to produce proper documents, particularly the national identity (NID) card.

“Since early this month, the number of occupied rooms has come down to between 30 and 35 daily,” said the staff on condition of anonymity.

The hotel staffers and mess managers said as per recent instructions by police, they didn't rent out any room to people without NID cards and other relevant documents.

“Earlier, police were not so strict about the identities of people. So, we used to rent out rooms to customers having no NID cards,” said the manager of another hotel.

He said policemen sat at the reception of hotels, but they didn't raid rooms.

To avoid any trouble, many hoteliers made their inoperative CCTV cameras operative, said another hotel manager. “We are now fully complying with the police instructions.”

A staff of Hotel Green Palace International on Green Road made a similar observation.

Visiting at least four messes in Rajabazar, Green Road and West Karwan Bazar areas, this newspaper found that many boarders were leaving the messes ahead of the election.

One of them is Chowdhury Mess on Green Road which accommodates service holders, businessmen and some students. It has 72 rooms, each having a capacity for five people.

“All the rooms of our mess used to remain occupied around the year. We had to turn down requests of borders for seats,” said Manager Ali Hossain. “Now we have five rooms empty. Some boarders in several other rooms have left.”

He said police visited the mess and searched some rooms since early this month.

A number of Mirpur residents said police recently visited their homes and asked them to submit tenant information forms.

Cops entered flats and homes and wanted to know whether any of the tenants' relatives were staying there, said a tenant of a house in Mirpur Section-10.

Asked about the matter, Masudur Rahman, deputy commissioner (media) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said they took different measures ahead of the general election so that no criminal group could commit an offence.

“Drives are underway in the city to arrest criminals and stop criminal activities,” he told The Daily Star.

Voters in Netrokona-4 had high hopes for a tough race as three women with graduate degrees were running for parliament from there.

But the situation on the ground was just like in any other constituency in Bangladesh. Ruling party men, in cases helped by law enforcers, were virtually controlling the electioneering and supporters of opposition candidates were panicking.

During 12 days of campaigning, 15 cases were filed with three police stations accusing over 1,000 BNP men of sabotage and subversive activities. Local BNP leaders claimed those were false cases.

Former BNP home minister Lutfuzzaman Babar's son Labib Zaman was also accused in three such cases.

Incumbent Rebecca Momin, wife of Awami League's former food minister Abdul Momin; and Tahmina Zaman, wife of Babar, are running in the constituency that had elected their husbands. The other female candidate Joly Talukder of Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) is a well-known workers' leader.

Voters claimed that they were expecting a tough fight in the haor-based constituency, consisting of Mohanganj, Madan, and Khaliajuri upazilas, that have been lagging behind in terms of development.

In the constituency about 30km away from Netrakona town, this correspondent saw vigorous electioneering by the ruling party men and hardly any campaign activity of the BNP.

The BNP's Mohanganj upazila office on Monday was found closed. Locals said the office had been closed for several days.

“There are problems,” was all that Sujan Mia, a tea seller nearby, agreed to say.

Some 100 metres away, the Awami League office was fully functional. SMA Ferdous, organising secretary of Mohanganj upazila AL, said their campaigning was going well.

“Every day, Rebecca Momin is visiting people in different areas and asking for votes. Besides, our area-based camps are also working.”

Another 23 kilometres away at Babar's house in Madan upazila, a few posters and banners of Tahmina Zaman were seen.

A marquee was set up and around 100 BNP leaders and activists were seen seated.

The BNP men said their electioneering has been on hold for the last seven days amid police harassment; they could only campaign in three unions.

“We are on the run. Almost all our leaders are accused and police are carrying out raids regularly,” said Mustafizur Rahman Titu, a BNP leader. Around 65 of their activists have been arrested since campaigning began, he added.

Nurul Alam, president of Madan upazila BNP, claimed they were on a road-show on December 15 when police suddenly prevented their rally and attacked them in Kaitail union.

“But three cases were filed against us the next day. Our leader's son Labib, who came from Dhaka only to take part in the campaign for his mother, was made the prime accused,” said Alam.

According to the case statement, police fired 61 shots and one gas canister on that day.

Alam said police and DB raided Babar's house on the night of December 16. “Is this a level-playing field?”

Of the 15 cases, nine were filed with Madan Police Station. The Daily Star obtained copies of the nine. Noteworthy, the cases filed on December 18, 22, and 23 all have the same text but the names, places, times and dates have been changed.

Refuting allegations, Ramijul Haque, officer-in-charge of Madan Police Station, said the cases were filed on valid grounds.

BNP men said they are confident of victory in the constituency, if a fair election is held. AL men said Rebecca's honesty and promises of development were their strengths.

The AL and BNP have fought hard for this seat since 1991. Babar won the race in 1991, while Momin won the next in 1996. Babar again won in 2001, while Momin's wife Rebecca won the polls in 2008. In 2014, Rebecca won uncontested.

At least 15 people were injured and 13 others arrested over violence in two districts yesterday, two days before the 11th parliamentary polls.

In Noakhali, three youths were injured in an explosion while making bombs in Companiganj upazila's Chairman Bari area in the morning, police said.

Law enforcers could not confirm the identities of the injured.

Polls violence subsided yesterday as the number of such incidents and casualties decreased compared to the last few days.

Meanwhile, Awami League Joint General Secretary Jahangir Kabir Nanak yesterday alleged that six ruling party men were killed by BNP men during electioneering.

“BNP men attacked and injured 445 leaders and activists of our party and vandalised 174 election camps. We urge the police to arrest these hoodlums,” Nanak said at a press conference at the AL chief's Dhanmondi office in the capital.

According to media reports, motorcades and polls campaigns of at least 56 candidates, mostly of the BNP's, came under attack; some 1,190 people were injured and over 800 BNP-Jamaat men arrested during the electioneering between December 10 and 28 for the parliamentary polls.

Campaigning for tomorrow's national election ended at 8:00am yesterday.

At least 15 people were wounded in a clash between supporters of AL nominee Kazi Zafarullah and independent candidate Mujibur Rahman Chowdhury, widely known as Nixon Chowdhury, in Faridpur-4 yesterday over establishing supremacy in Bhanga upazila's Moheshwardi village.

Witnesses said supporters of the two rival candidates were campaigning informally in the village around noon. At one stage, they got involved in an altercation and clashed using lethal weapons.

Police and BGB teams later rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control.

Talking to journalists, Nixon's supporter Md Azam alleged that two supporters of Zafarullah beat him up without provocation.

Ashad Matubbar, supporter of the AL candidate, claimed Azam phoned him and threatened not to seek vote for ZafarUllah.

Both the rival groups denied the allegations against each other.

Additional policemen were deployed in the area to avoid further violence.

In Chandpur, police picked up 13 alleged BNP men following a clash between “criminals” and the opposition party men at the Rupsha house of Chandpur-4 BNP candidate Harunur Rashid in Faridganj upazila around noon.

Witness said a group of bike-riding criminals reached near Rashid's house and attacked it. As the BNP men tried to resist the attackers, the clash broke out.

Police later brought the situation under control.

Faridganj OC Ohidul Islam said they picked up 13 people in connection with the incident. The BNP claimed the arrestees to be its activists.

In Sunamganj, police arrested BNP leaders Abdul Motaleb Khan, also chairman of Dharmapasha upazila, and Harunur Rashid, former general secretary of Dowarabazar upazila BNP yesterday evening.

Police said the two were accused in sabotage cases.

N'GANJ CANDIDATE QUITS RACE

In Narayanganj-3, independent candidate Abdullah Al Kaiser last night announced that he was withdrawing from the polls in the face of pressure from the administration and considering the security of his supporters.

He made the announcement while talking to journalists at his Mograpara home in Sonargaon upazila around 9:00pm, hours after a joint team of police, BGB and Rab, led by an executive magistrate, raided his house.

Sazzad Roman, inspector (Special Branch) of Narayanganj police, said the raid was conducted on information that Kaiser was holding a “secret meeting” to commit subversive activities.

Shahinur Rahman, assistant returning officer in the district, said he didn't receive any compliant from any candidate about facing pressure from the administration.

In Tangail-3, BNP candidate Lutfar Rahman Khan Azad at a press conference yesterday demanded withdrawal of Maksudul Alam and Amirul Islam, officer-in-charge of Ghatail Police Station and in-charge of Dhalapara Police Outpost, for allegedly threatening his possible polling agents not to go to the polling centres on the voting day.

Amirul, however, denied the allegation.

Despite repeated attempts, The Daily Star could not reach Maksudul over the phone for comments.

In Cumilla, police were forced to release an AL man after the ruling party activists laid seize to Kotwali Model Police Station yesterday.

Police detained Syed Raihan, 40, son of local AL leader Abir Ahmed Photo, also a ward councillor of Cumilla City Corporation, in the city around 2:00pm.

Hearing the news, around 500 AL men laid seize to the police station. Law enforcers freed the detainee around 4:45pm, said locals.

Talking to journalists, Abir said, “Police detained Raihan from Mogoltuli area after Juma prayers without any specific allegation. Locals protested the incident and laid seize to the police station demanding his release.”

Abu Salam Mia, OC of the police station, said Raihan was detained due to a “misunderstanding”.

In Meherpur, criminals hurled two bombs at the house of district BNP Joint Secretary Abdul Awal Biswas in Gangni upazila's Bamundi village around 9:30pm on Thursday.

On the same night, Faridpur police in separate drives arrested seven BNP men from different areas of Boalmari Municipality.

Our district correspondents contributed to this report. 

With multiple aspirant candidates already campaigning hard in almost all constituencies, Awami League President Sheikh Hasina last night issued a tough warning to those looking to contest the election as rebels.

“Once a rebel, forever a rebel,” three sources quoted Hasina as telling at a joint meeting of the party's central working committee, advisory council and the AL Parliamentary Party at the Gono Bhaban.

If anyone goes against the party decision to run in the election, they will be expelled from the party for life, the sources added, quoting the prime minister.

Hasina also asked her party leaders to throw their weight behind the party-nominated candidates in the upcoming election.

The party may change its candidate even on the last date of nomination withdrawal. Party leaders must accept that decision and demonstrate a mentality of sacrifice, she told the meeting.

Losing the election will mean dangerous consequences for AL leaders, she warned, asking them to keep that in mind and work together to avoid such consequences.

In almost each of the 300 constituencies, there are four, five or even more aspirants. This has caused a major headache for the party high-ups already, as multiple candidates in the same constituency could affect the election results.

In almost all local government elections in the last 10 years, dissidents were the main problem for the party. In many places, AL candidates lost because of their party rivals.

Under the AL constitution, leaders can be expelled for running against party candidates. Despite the threat, however, party rebels did exactly that in recent years.

More than a dozen AL dissidents won in the January 5, 2014, national election that was boycotted by major political parties. One of them even beat an AL presidium member. But the party did not take any disciplinary action against the rebels.

Intra-party conflicts remain a thorny issue for the party. Over the last four years, leaders of the AL and its affiliated organisations clashed with each other, often violently.

At least 100 people were killed and 8,690 injured in 634 such incidents, according to Ain o Salish Kendra, a leading rights organisation.

At the meeting, Hasina also asked her party leaders not to criticise Hefajat-e Islam, sources said.

Hefajat and Jamaat-e-Islami are not the same thing and they should not be mixed up, she said, asking the party leaders to develop relations with Islamic parties before the election.

The meeting also formed 15 committees to oversee party activities for the national election. A separate core committee with presidium and advisory council members was formed to monitor the activities of these 15 committees. PM's son and her ICT Affairs adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy is also in the core

Hasina said the party was yet to give green signal to any candidate for the election. 

She also alleged that Jatiya Oikyafront, the new alliance of BNP and several other parties, was trying to make the election questionable and controversial.

She instructed her party-men to remain watchful of Oikyafront's activities.

At the end of the meeting, many party leaders sought her blessings, sources said. 

At this, Hasina said she gave them her blessings but not nomination. She also asked them not to publicise the pictures of the meeting to claim that they were given nomination, according to the sources.

The meeting began with Hasina expressing her optimism about AL's victory, saying pro-liberation forces would remain in power during the golden jubilee celebrations of the country's independence, reports BSS.

She said the golden jubilee of independence would not be celebrated properly if the pro-liberation forces were not in office. “The Pakistan-lovers will not celebrate it. It's a reality.”

Blasting those who do not see Bangladesh's progress, Hasina said one of the leaders who formed Jatiya Oikyafront commented that Pakistan achieved more development than Bangladesh.

“He should be sent to Pakistan to see the actual situation there,” she said.

Talking about Khaleda Zia, the PM said the BNP chief was in jail for embezzling orphans' money, not for any political reason, reports UNB.

About the new alliance, the PM said Oikyafront leaders alleged that the government did not allow them to hold any rally, but in reality they are holding rallies.

"I told the authorities concerned that democracy prevails in the country. Let them hold as many meetings as they want," she said.

About the demand for an election-time neutral government, the AL chief said as per the High Court verdict, no unelected government is allowed to come to power.

"How do the great lawyers demand such a government after such a verdict? Why are they demanding formation of another government for the election purpose? Why is this demand? How do they press for it?" she asked.

Hasina questioned the intention of the Oikyafront leaders, saying, “Whether they want election or something else is the big question.”

Children in Jashore's Malopara village still have nightmares of people coming to attack them. And with the election on the horizon, panic has spread even among the adults.

It stems from their experience of the election day on January 5, 2014, when Jamat-Shibir and BNP men unleashed their fury in a series of mindless attacks on the locals. 

They vandalised 130 houses of the Hindu community and torched 10 more in Malopara because the villagers had dared to cast votes. The attackers also looted valuables from the Hindu houses, the locals said.

Although many of the Jamaat-BNP men involved in those attacks have been arrested or are  on the run, a sense of foreboding prevails, particularly among the women and children of the village fishing community living on the banks of the Bhairab river. 

At least two families of the village have sent their young women to their relatives' homes as the polls near.

“I tried to convince my wife to stay home, but she insisted not to take any risk. I gave in to her resolve and sent her to a relative's house in Coat Chandpur in Jhenidah on Wednesday,” said Laltu Sarkar, a local.

Sumoti Sarkar, 14, and Sathi Sarkar, 7, two daughters of his elder brother also accompanied Laltu's wife.

Now an eight-grader, Sumoti was then a class VI student when 300 to 400 Jamaat-Shibir and BNP men wielding sharp weapons and hockey sticks attacked Malopara in Abhoynagar upazila in 2014.

Some 600 Hindus, including women and children, had to flee their village and seek shelter on the other side of the river. While many crossed the river by boats, others swam across.

“Sumoti is so traumatised that she still has nightmares of people coming to attack us,” Kali Dashi Sarkar, mother of Sumoti, told this correspondent while visiting the village on Wednesday.

The hallmark of the attack can still be seen on the tin-roof of Sumoti's house.

That was the third and final attack of the day that came following a rumour that Shibir activist Abu Bakkar had been beaten and killed by the Hindus.

Asked why people still feared the attacks as Jamaat-Shibir and BNP men were out of the area due to police raids, a number of villagers said it was because some of those attackers still roamed around the area freely.

Besides, some attackers had now engaged with the local Awami League, they added.

Earlier, the Jamaat-Shibir men attacked twice, but the residents had managed to resist them from entering the village, said Bishwajit Sarkar.

In the first attack, Bishwajit and five others, including Shyamol Biswas, Kamal Sarkar, Sunil Biswas and Susil Sarkar were seriously beaten.

Their second attempt to enter the village was thwarted by villagers, locals said.

Abhoynagar police lodged a case naming 39 accused. After investigation, police submitted a charge sheet accusing 100 people 16 FIR names were dropped.

A number of villagers said many who took part in the attacks were not made accused in the charge sheet. Some of those charge-sheeted secured bails.

Bishwajit, general secretary of ward-9 unit of Prembagh union, said the government had rebuilt 46 houses and renovated 26 others.

The prime minister visited the village on January 23 that year and before her visit they were also brought under national grid while the government built a primary school after purchasing a piece of land. A temporary police camp was built in the village, but they want it to be a permanent one.

Bishwajit said now they wanted to meet the PM as some of their demands -- for a permanent police camp, creation of jobs, lease of a nearby water body -- were still not fulfilled.