Shakib Al Hasan, the captain of Bangladesh men's national cricket team and a member of the country's ruling party Awami League was seen slapping a fan at one of the polling stations where Hassan had arrived recently to exercise his vote.
In a widely circulated video, Hasan can be seen trying to enter a polling booth when he is suddenly surrounded by a few people. As the cricketer tries to walk past, one of the boys in the mob reportedly tries to pull Hasan from behind which is when the latter retorts with a slap.
In the video, the boys look shocked and disperse after Hasan slaps one of them, and later the guy who was recording the video is seen putting the phone down.
Hasan contested from the western town of Magura city in Bangladesh and registered victory by a margin of over 1,50,000 votes against his rival Kazi Rezaul Hossain of the Bangladesh Congress party who managed to secure 45,000 votes.
According to Magura's chief administrator Abu Naser Beg "It was a landslide victory."
The cricketer has not yet responded to the slapping incident, per media reports. After the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party backed away from casting votes, Awami League won the elections again with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina securing a straight fourth term in power.
Hasina retains her title as the world’s longest serving female head of the government after her party swept more than half of the parliament seats in the election which was boycotted by her opponents and voters.
Al Hasan meanwhile said, "The competition and challenges are always there, be it a small team or big team."
Recently, BNP's vice chairman Nitai Roy Chowdhury alleged that the Sheikh Hasina-led government is neck deep in corruption in the country. "This (Awami League) is not a democratic government. Development cannot be there without democracy. People's participation must be there," Chowdhury had remarked.
Al Hasan has also taken a brief break from cricket as he is currently involved into politics. Referring to the break, when asked whether he chose to stay away from cricket to focus on politics, Hassan said "Did I retire? If I have not retired, then where does this question come from?" media reports quoted the Awami League member as saying.
Published 08 January 2024, 08:46 IST