Dhaka, Jan. 31 -- Dr Syed Abdullah Muhammad Taher, Nayeb-e-Ameer of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, has said that people will not vote for corrupt leaders and extortionists in the upcoming election.

He said that if honest and capable leaders were elected, the price of rice would drop from Tk 70 to Tk 30.

The Jamaat leader made the remarks on Friday at a Tafsirul Quran Mahfil in Cumilla's Chauddagram Upazila, during a ceremony where turbans were given to students of Chaumuhani Modern School and Madrasa in Sreepur Union.

Blaming corruption and looting for the soaring prices of essentials, he said August 5 would not only mark the fall of the "autocratic government" but also signal the defeat of what he termed India's "hegemonic and Islamophob...