Bikaljia Dhara Bangladesh (BDB) Secretary General Abdul Mannan yesterday sued three secretaries and rite acting principal staff officer of die Armed Forces Division for con-tdfnpt of court*WW pidvidihg" army in each polling centre during Dhaka-10 by-election.

In his contempt petition to the High Court (HQ, Mannan pleaded for cancellation of the by-polls on the grounds that the High Court directives to ensure a free, fair poll were violated.

Mannan, who boycotted the prestige polls in the Ramna-Tejgaon constituency two and half an hours into die July 1 ballot, also sought a high-powered investigation into his allegations of massive rigging and

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irregularities in the by-polls.

He levelled charges of contempt against Prime Minister's Principal Secretary Kamal Uddin Siddiqui, Home Secretary Omar Farooque, Defence Secretary KM Ehsanul Huq and Acting Principal Staff Officer Brigadier General Illias Iftekhar Rasul.

Mannan's lawyers expect the High Court bench of Justice Abdul Wahhab Mia and Justice Jinat Ara to hear the case today. The same bench on June 29 ordered the four officials to deploy army in each polling centre on a writ petition by Mannan and three other election candidates.

"(The) Court's order has not been complied with by the respondent-contemners wilfully and deliberately to have an exparte result in favour of the ruling [alliance] candidate and therefore such deliberate and wilful disobedience to the order of this Hon'ble Court and thereupon conduct of such election is wholly illegal," the petition observed while questioning the validity of the polls result.

Slapping charges of massive rigging and manipulation by the ruling BNP-led four-party alliance, Mannan said, "The hoodlums of the ruling party captured the polling stations and snatched away ballot

papers from the presiding officers of the... 89 centres at gunpoint and put seal on those in favour of the ruling [alliance] candidate. The agents were not allowed to lodge any complaint with the respective presiding officers. The women polling agents were threatened with gang-rape."

"The respondent-contemners are liable to be prosecuted and punished for contempt of this Hon'ble Court," the petition noted.