Chittagong: BNP-backed mayoral candidate M Manzur Alam of Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) declared to boycott the city polls alleging electoral fraud on Tuesday morning.

The announcement came from a press conference at Manzur's main election office at Dewanhat in Chittagong about 11:30am.

He also said he is going to quit politics altogether.

Speaking at the press conference, Manzur's chief election agent and BNP senior leader Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury said their candidate has stepped out of the race as armed miscreants have taken control over '80 percent' of the polling centres with the backup of police and Election Commission officials since the morning.

Earlier, Manzur Alam claimed that the supporters of Awami-backed candidate Nasir Uddin were forcing Manzur’s agents to leave polling station. He also alleged that his agents were receiving threats from the opponents.

A total of 1188 mayoral and councillor candidates are running for 182 posts in the two Dhaka cities and Chittagong city corporations’ polls, where some 60 lakh people are expected to exercise their franchise in 2,701 polling stations.