New city mayors not elected by people

Dodging city corporation taxes will not be a crime since the mayors were not voted to office, said Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) President Mujahidul Islam Selim yesterday.

The April 28 election was farcical and did not reflect people's right to vote, he told a gathering CPB and Socialist Party of Bangladesh (SPB) organised in front of Jatiya Press Club in the evening protesting the "snatching of people's voting rights".

Selim announced another agitation programme across the country on May 16 demanding overhauling the electoral system. He said, with people's support, the leftist parties would bring back people's right to vote through a movement.  

Chairing the event, SPB General Secretary Khalequzzaman said the Election Commission had become a party commission.

They made a blunder in calculate the number of votes cast as they are yet to provide any report based on polling centres, he added.

Abdullah Al Kafi of CPB, mayoral candidate for Dhaka north, and Bazlur Rashid Firoz of SPB, mayoral candidate for Dhaka south, expressed their bitter experiences.