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In Kafrul and Mirpur, BNP candidate for Dhaka-15 Shafiqul Islam Milton said tensions flared several times over requests for NID cards. He alleged that Jamaat activists faced public resistance at least four times, adding that the Jamaat ameer of Kafrul thana later apologised publicly and promised not to repeat the activity. A video clip of the local Jamaat ameer apologising spread online at the time.

Clashes were also reported in South Pirerbagh on January 20, after Jamaat activists allegedly went door to door asking for NID details.

Idris Ali, former general secretary of the Haven Tower Flat Owners’ Association, said residents protested after campaigners ignored restrictions on entering homes to seek documents.

At Mohakhali Sat Tala slum, Selina Begum said groups enter the slum every one or two days, sometimes identifying as political activists and other times as NGO staffers. She said both Jamaat and BNP activists recently collected phone numbers and NID details.

Md Hasan, 65, a resident of Korail’s Ershadnagar, said that in recent days, BNP activists collected NID photocopies while distributing blankets.

Rana Ahmed, senior joint convener of the Banani thana BNP, said “some parties” are collecting this information in slums as proof of outreach.

“Those collecting the information told us that they had to prove to their superiors that they had campaigned for the party,” he said.

BNP Standing Committee member Selima Rahman, who is also a member of the party’s election steering committee, said she was not aware of BNP activists seeking voters’ NID details.

“We’ve asked the party activists to avoid such activities. We’re continuing our campaign,” she told this newspaper yesterday.

Jamaat central leaders could not be reached for comments about the matter despite repeated attempts.

Ahsanul Mahboob Zubair, Jamaat assistant secretary general and lead of its publicity wing; Maolana ATM Masum, assistant secretary general and head of its national election steering committee; and Maolana Abdul Halim, assistant secretary general and member secretary of the committee, did not respond to The Daily Star’s calls and text messages over the matter last night.