BNP candidates for Manikganj-1 Khondaker Akter Hamid Dablu allegedly came under attack today.

Dablu claimed that criminals fired gunshots at his car twice in Ghior upazila town and Mohadevpur area of Shivalaua upzila while he was returning home from Daulatpur upazila nirbahi officer’s office this afternoon.

However, the two bullets missed his car, he said adding that he informed Manikganj police superintendent about the attacks.

Contacted, Rifat Rahman Shamim, superintendent of police in Manikganj, said that after investigation, police couldn't find any evidence of such incident.

BNP candidates of Dhaka-4 and Dhaka-19 constituencies are fearing further attacks on their campaigns and activists.

They both complained of inaction from the authorities despite repeated complaints, they claimed at separate press conferences today.

Dhaka-4 candidate Alhaj Salauddin Ahmed held a press conference in his Shyampur residence, alleging of police threats to his supporters.

Expressing fear for his life and family, he alleged law enforcers are continuing drives to arrest and harass the opposition leaders and activists.

“Several times I have lodged complaints to the Election Commission in this regard but did not get any response,” he said.

Dhaka-19 candidate Dr Dewan Mohammad Salauddin Babu alleged police, with help of ruling Awami League activists, are carrying out mass arrests of BNP activists.

He claimed arrests of at least 19 top BNP activists in the locality and attack and vandalism of BNP’s campaign offices in the area.

Fearing further vandalism, he said he has halted the election campaign for a few days. He too alleged of authorities’ inaction despite repeated complaints.

BNP today placed promises for the ICT and outsourcing sector of the country in its election manifesto announced today.

Here are some of the significant promises from the party:

• All kinds of "illogical bars" for bringing foreign currency earned through information technology-enabled services (ITES) will be removed.
• Low cost Global Payment Gateway facilities will be provided to those involved with freelancing and outsourcing.
• Nationwide Telecommunication Transmission Network (NTTN), Internet Service Provider (ISP) and International Internet Gateway (IIG) markets will be made open.
• Augmented reality, animation, robotics sectors to be boosted with investment.
• VOIP systems will be made open for all.
• Zero tariff on ICT equipments.
• The metropolitan areas, municipalities and other administrative centres will be gradually turned into smart villages, smart cities and smart municipalities.

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir today unveiled the election manifesto of the party ahead of the 11th national elections slated to be held on December 30.

BNP’s top policymaker Nazrul Isalm Khan today claimed that the government is obstructing the environment of free and fair national election.

BNP leaders and activists are still getting obstructed, Khan, chairman of the party’s election management committee, said at a press conference.

The court has cancelled the candidacy of 16 BNP contestants after the election commission gave them validity, he said. The declaration came at the last moment.

“There was no time to give replacement candidates. The EC has conspired to gift those 16 constituencies to Awami League,” he alleged.

The Daily Star has launched a new series of talk show ‘The Election Talks 2018’ where experts are analysing all aspects of the upcoming general elections, contemporary politics, events and incidents.

In today’s episode of ‘The Election Talks 2018’, Sharmeen Murshid, chief executive officer of a non-government organisation and local election observer group ‘Brotee’, talks with The Daily Star about the upcoming election.

She sheds light on the inclusion process of election observers for the 11th national polls on a one-to-one with Shakhawat Liton, planning editor of The Daily Star.

While listing the election observers this time, the election commission has excluded many experienced observes while many election observer groups were included who are not known to us, she said.

Mentioning that the scope of observing the election is getting reduced, she said, "This shrunken scope has raised questions in our minds."

As an example, she said that during the 2008 elections, number of total international election observers were 593 and local observers were 1,00,059 from 75 organisations. But this time there are only 25 to 26 thousand local observers and under 100 international observers, according to election commission data.   

Watch the video to know more!