Dhaka, Feb. 13 -- elect from Dhaka-8 Mirza Abbas on Friday said despite extensive attempts at 'vote engineering' by his man rival candidate, they failed to override the people's mandate.

"A certain group tried to divert the people's votes through cunning tactics, but their attempts ultimately failed against the tide of public support," he said.

Talking to reporters after visiting his family graveyard in Shahjahanpur following Juma prayers, Abbas alleged that a large number of ballots in his favour were unfairly cancelled.

He also expressed surprise at the vote count of his nearest rival National Citizen Party (NCP) candidate Mohammad Nasir Uddin Patwary.

"They have no real public support, so how did they get so many votes? This clearl...