Ctg MP sued for assaulting polls official

Mustafizur

A case has been filed against Chittagong-16 constituency ruling Awami League lawmaker Mustafizur Rahman Chowdhury and his two aides for allegedly assaulting an upazila election officer.

The victim, Zahidul Islam, has been shown as the complainant of the case that was filed on Thursday night, said Mohammad Alamgir, officer-in-charge of Banshkhali Police Station.

Besides Mustafizur, two others accused in the case are his Personal Secretary Tajul Islam, also the AL chairman candidate in Baharchhara union, and Maulana Akhter, president of Banshkhali upazila unit Olama League, said the police official.

On June 1, Mustafizur "beat" and "verbally" abused Banshkhali Upazila Election Officer Zahidul at the office of Upazila Nirbahi Officer, who was not present during the incident, for not appointing the MP's men as polling officials in the upazila parishad polls there.

Following the incident, the victim lodged a complaint with the Election Commission. A day later, the EC sent a letter to the OC of Banshkhali Police Station, asking him to file a case against the lawmaker and his aides.   

“Accordingly, I recorded the case on Thursday night. As Zahidul Islam lodged the complaint with the commission, he has automatically been made complainant in the case,” the OC told The Daily Star.

However, MP Mustafizur denied the allegation of Zahidul, terming it "bogus".

Talking to The Daily Star, the lawmaker rather brought an allegation against Zahidul that he was working in collaboration with the BNP-Jamaat men.

Over the incident, the EC suspended elections to all 14 UPs of Banshkhali that were scheduled to be held today.

Meanwhile, BNP leaders in Chittagong demanded arrest of Mustafizur for his misdeeds.