The victory of the BNP-backed mayoral candidate in the maiden polls to Gazipur City Corporation will boost the morale of leaders and activists of the party, which will now use it to intensify the antigovernment movement, party leaders said early today.

Talking to The Daily Star, they noted that they have shattered the traditional stronghold of the ruling Awami League in the largest city corporation of the country.

"We will now intensify our ongoing movement against the government as we think voters have given their verdict in favour of our candidate not because of our candidate's image or acceptability but because of this government's misrule and corruption," BNP Joint Secretary General Barkatullah Bulu told journalists at the Election Commission.

Tariqul Islam, standing committee member of the party, said their victory in the Gazipur polls shows people's

no-confidence in the government.

Earlier in the day, the BNP made a series of allegations against the government and the ruling Awami League including attempts to rig votes, conspiring to manipulate polls results in favour of the mayoral candidate they backed as voting was going on.

Acting secretary general of the party Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and central leaders Tariqul Islam and Rizvi Ahmed brought various allegations at separate press conferences at BNP's Naya Paltan central office in the capital between 12:30pm and 4:00pm, when voting ended.

Besides, some other senior leaders of the party were busy at the Election Commission bringing allegations of government interference in the polls.

At around 1:15pm, a three-member BNP delegation headed by standing committee member MK Anwar met Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmed at his office and informed him of "various anomalies" in the voting.

And BNP leaders Moudud Ahmed and Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury at separate discussions in Dhaka and Chittagong also came up with allegations that the local (Gazipur) administration was involved in attempts to ensure victory of the ruling party-backed Ajmat Ullah Khan.

Moudud said Gazipur polls proved that free and fair election was not possible under the present government, no matter what the result was. The polls also proved that the Election Commission could not act neutrally, he added.

At the press conference, Fakhrul alleged that government officials were found stamping ballot papers and threatening supporters of opposition-backed candidate when they came to cast votes.

“Even an on-duty police sub-inspector at booth 7 of polling centre 249 under Ward-41 was stamping ballot papers,” he said. The EC will have to take responsibility for such irregularities in the polls, he added.