New Delhi, Feb 12 (IANS) As people of Bangladesh voted in the country's 13th parliamentary election, India on Thursday stressed that it would wait for the results before making any assessment of the political landscape.Addressing a weekly media briefing in New Delhi, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “The elections are going on in Bangladesh. We should wait for the outcome of the elections to see what sort of mandate has come out, and thereafter, we will look at issues that are there. On the election per se, you know what our position has been. We stand for free, fair, inclusive and credible elections in Bangladesh.”

Jaiswal stated that India chose not to depute any election observers to Bangladesh, despite receiving an invitation. “We did receive an invitation to send observers, but we have not sent our observers to Bangladesh to monitor the elections,” he said while replying to another question.  Meanwhile, violence erupted at several polling booths across Bangladesh on Thursday, leading to the death of a political leader as the voting was underway across the nation, local media reported. Incidents started unfolding after polling began early Thursday morning, reflecting the deteriorating law and order situation and volatile security landscape in Bangladesh.

Amid the escalating violence, a Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader, Mohibuzzaman Kochi, died at the Alia Madrasa polling station in Khulna district. Citing eyewitnesses and police, Bangladesh's leading Bengali daily Jugantor reported that tension arose between BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami supporters on Thursday morning near the polling centre. Former Khulna Sadar Thana BNP organising secretary Yusuf Harun Majnu said, "There was tension at the centre since morning. The principal of Alia Madrasa was campaigning for Jamaat. When he stopped him, he pushed Mohibuzzaman Kochi. As a result, he hit a tree and got hit on the head. This is what caused his death."

Confirming the incident, Khulna Sadar Police Station Sub Inspector Khan Faisal Rafi, in charge of the centre, said, "When tension arose between the two parties, we immediately went to the spot and separated the two parties." Emergency Medical Officer at Khulna City Medical College Hospital, Partha Roy, told Jugantor that the BNP leader Kochi was brought dead to the hospital.

In another incident on Thursday morning, a cocktail bomb attack at a polling station in Gopalganj Sadar Upazila during voting left three people injured. The incident occurred at the Reshma International School polling station in Gopalganj district. Bangladesh's high-stakes parliamentary elections are unfolding amid escalating political conflict and violence, with several parties raising concerns over the fairness of the polls.

--IANS