Six people including five presiding officers were arrested on charge of holding a “secret meeting to work for a chairman candidate” in Sirajganj upazila parishad election to be held tomorrow.

Canceling the appointment of 10 presiding officers including the arrested ones, the local administration appointed 10 new presiding officers.

Sirajganj deputy commissioner and also returning officer Mir Mohammad Mahbubur Rahman shared the information at a press conference last night.

He said they conducted a joint drive with police, election office and district administration after being tipped off that a secret meeting was taking place at Garden Palace Resort in Kadai area of Sadar upazila, involving several presiding officers supporting a chairman candidate.

Though no one could be arrested from the spot during the drive, later CCTV footage and some resort staff were taken to the local police station for questioning, he said.

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The arrested presiding officers are Serajul Islam, 52, assistant prof of Jamuna Degree College; Ashraful Islam, 53, principal of S.B. Railway Colony School and College; Abu Sama, 44, lecture of Sirajganj Police Lines School and College; Babu Kumar Ghosh, 42, lecture of Ratankandi School and College; Yasin Arafat, 53, senior principal officer at Janata Bank Sirajganj Zonal Office; and Aminul Islam, coordinator of the meeting, assistant teacher of Shiyalkol Government Primary School and President of Sirajganj District Primary Teachers' Association.

Police Superintendent Arifur Rahman Mandal said they conducted drives in the district and arrested them including the meeting’s mastermind Aminul Islam.

The ongoing operation to arrest others continues, he said, adding that a case was filed accusing 20 individuals, including eight unidentified ones with the Sadar police station.

The upazila has a total of 171 polling centres.

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