A Correspondent:
Sylhet: Mayor of Sylhet City Corporation and BNP leader Ariful Haque Chowdhury on Saturday an-nounced that he will not contest the upcoming election scheduled for June 21.
He made the announcement during a public gathering on the Sylhet Registry Ground in the city ending speculation about his candidacy amid the party’s decision to boycott the election.
Addressing the crowd, Ariful Haque said, “I embarked on my political journey with the BNP, and I will never make any decision that undermines the integrity of this party.”
He said that an appropriate environment for conducting fair elections does not exist.
He highlighted the lack of familiarity among the citizens of Sylhet regarding Electronic Voting Ma-chines (EVMs), terming it a fraudulent tool used for vote rigging.
Ariful reiterated that his party, the BNP, would not participate in any election under the current gov-ernment.
“I have accepted this decision and subsequently boycotted the election,” he said.
