A former leader of the Bangladesh Chhatra League, student wing of the ruling Awami League, on Wednesday took a selfie with a ballot paper bearing a seal on it inside the secret booth of a polling station and shared it on his Facebook wall.
Md Omar Faruk Fardeen, former acting general secretary of the BCL Rajshahi district unit, however, removed the photo from his Facebook wall hours after huge criticism.
Fardeen, a resident of Maria village under Parila union of Paba upazila in Rajshahi, cast his vote at the Koira Government Primary School polling station on Wednesday morning.
According to the electoral code of conduct, voters are not allowed to enter polling stations with mobile phones.
Fardeen, however, took a selfie with the ballot paper inside the secret booth and posted it on his Facebook account, flaunting the ballot paper with a seal on the 鈥榩ineapple鈥�, the electoral symbol of Rajshahi district AL former office secretary Faruk Hossain Dablu, who is contesting the Paba upazila parishad chairman post.
Fardeen could not be reached for his comment despite repeated attempts over the phone.
Returning officer and additional deputy commissioner Sarkar Asim Kumar said that the law enforcers were looking for Fardeen as the latter would be brought to justice.
Meanwhile, a youth was stabbed in front of the Parila High School polling station at Paba upazila at 11:00am on Wednesday.
Injured Abdul Momin, 30, was admitted to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital. He is a follower of Paba upazila Jubo League president Emdadul Haque, who is vying in the election for the chairman post.
Following the incident, Emdadul Haque took position in front of the Parila High School polling station with the blood stained clothes of the injured Momin.
Emdadul Haque said that a group of 15 to 20 followers of his rival candidate Rajshahi district AL former office secretary Faruk Hossain Dablu attacked Momin when the latter got down from a rickshaw in order to cast his vote at the Parila High School polling station.
He alleged that the followers of Dablu were not allowing the voters to enter the polling station by threatening them with dire consequences.
Faruk Hossain Dablu was not available for his comment as his mobile phone was found switched off.
Golam Rabbani, the presiding officer of Parila High School polling station, said that he did not know anything about what happened outside the polling station. 鈥楴othing happened inside the centre. A total of 922 out of 4,257 voters cast their votes till 12 noon,鈥� he said.
According to the returning officer鈥檚 office, about 17 per cent votes were cast in the Paba upazila parishad elections till 2:00pm as the polls to a total of 87 upazilas were held on the day across the country in the third phase.