Narayanganj City Polls: Voters upbeat about a clean contest
If you go to Narayanganj city now, you will find a refreshing change in the mayoral race almost never seen in previous elections there. Ask any voter about the mayor runners for the December 22 city corporation polls, you will get almost the same view. They will say the candidates neither used muscle power nor have a bad image.
Instead, they always have stood against all kinds of violence and crime that had been raging in the city for a long time. It was not too long ago the city had witnessed the much-talked about seven murders.
"There is a positive change in the elections as the major two contestants are good and have strong position against terrorism and criminal activities,” Sohel Khan, a trader of Tanpara area in Narayanganj, told The Daily Star on Friday.
The campaigns are yet to get their momentum since the runners have not gotten their electoral symbols. They will get them on December 5.
For the first time, the Narayanganj City Corporation election is going to be held along partisan lines. The Awami League nominated former mayor Selina Hayat Ivy and BNP nominated Shakhawat Hossain Khan for the mayoral race.
Echoing trader Sohel, businessman of Chashara Saiful Islam said, “This time the election atmosphere will be different as the two major contenders do not have any muscle power, which could ruin the atmosphere.”
In the last mayoral elections, in 2011, Ivy ran and won against Awami League-backed Shamim Osman by around 1 lakh votes as an independent. The BNP-backed candidate Khandaker Taimur Alam had withdrawn at the eleventh hour.
The main challenge for Ivy now is to bring the Awami League leaders and activists under her umbrella and make them campaign for her. There is a distance between local leaders and Ivy which has not reduced even after she met Awami League President Sheikh Hasina with the district AL leaders, party sources said.
Local AL sources said Ivy went to submit her nomination paper taking Santrash Nirmul Mancha convener Rafiur Rabbi and with no AL leaders. They said it upset grassroots AL leaders and activists as Rabbi is not a ruling party man.
They, however, hoped that the Awami League leaders will work together when the campaigning starts.
“There are still many differences of opinion within Narayanganj Awami League and we are trying to bring everyone under one roof," district AL president Abdul Hai told The Daily Star yesterday. "Our initiatives are under process and we are hopeful that we all will unite for Boat."
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina asked the district leaders to work together to ensure victory for Ivy. However, there have not been visible efforts on the ground to this end.
Party insiders said although Hasina had asked all to work together, it is difficult. “Oil and water don't mix,” one of them said.
Ivy's main challenger Shakhawat, who is better known as a lawyer rather than a politician, has the tough job of making himself known to voters.
Shakhawat, who had been the president of Narayanganj District Bar Association twice, came into limelight for his strong leadership role in the Narayanganj seven-murder case.
“Shakhawat is a good soul but he is not a known face. He is a known face on the court premises but not in politics. In court, there is politics with 1,000 lawyers … in the city corporation polls there are around five lakh voters. So, it would be a great challenge for him to reach out to the voters,” said Mohsin Ali, a student of Tolaram College.
Shakhawat, however, denies that he is not known to the voters. He said he has been involved in politics since college and in more or less every ward he has a client.
As this election is going to be along party lines, the party symbol will play a crucial role in deciding the fate of the mayor runners.
Narayanganj AL leader Abdul Hai said national issues along with the local issues will come to the fore.
Shakhawat said, “… people have been deprived of their right to cast their votes for a long time … certainly national issues will dominate the campaign.”
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