Dhaka, Feb. 12 -- Army personnel have escorted NCP leader Nasir Uddin Patwary from a polling station in Dhaka's Shahjahanpur area after he was unable to leave the premises amid tensions with rival activists.

Patwary, a candidate of the Jamaat-e-Islami-led 11-party alliance in Dhaka-8, had gone to inspect voting at Shahjahanpur Railway High School at about 12:30pm on Thursday.

According to witnesses, supporters of BNP candidate Mirza Abbas gathered outside the school after Patwary entered. The gates were shut, and more than 100 activists later assembled, preventing him from leaving.

About 20 minutes later, members of the Army and other law-enforcing agencies arrived and escorted him out. As he was being taken away, several hundred peopl...