Zila Parishad Polls: Rebels stun AL in chairman posts
The ruling Awami League-backed chairman candidates suffered defeat at the hands of their party rebels in about a third of the 38 zila parishads that went to polls yesterday, amid boycott by the BNP and the main opposition Jatiya Party.
AL-sponsored chairman candidates already won unopposed in 21 district councils, so there was no need for voting for the post in those districts.
AL dissidents beat 11 of their party men, who were backed by their high command. One JP leader and an independent contestant also defeated AL-backed chairman aspirants in two zila parishads, according to unofficial results.
AL favourites bagged 25 chairman posts in yesterday's polls held peacefully amid tight security.
In all, they have now secured the chairman post in 46 district councils, which means the ruling party will have absolute control over the body, the top most tier of the local governments.
There are 64 zila parishads in the country. Polls in the three hill districts -- Bandarban, Rangamati and Khagrachhari -- are held separately under their own law. Polls for the chairman post in two of the other 61 districts were postponed following a High Court order.
It was the first time that the district councils went to polls yesterday.
The party favourites who lost to the dissidents questioned the fairness of the polls. They also alleged that the rebel candidates spent hefty sums to bribe the voters.
Elected representatives of the other local government bodies -- union parishads, upazila parishads, municipalities and city corporations -- are the voters in this election. It may be noted that most of these posts are now held by the ruling party men.
"I lost to money. It is a political defeat to the influence of money," said AL-backed candidate Mahbub Zaman Bhulu in Rajshahi district.
A former administrator of Rajshahi Zila Parishad, he lost to his party rebel Mohammad Ali Sarkar, a businessman.
Mahbub alleged that many of his party leaders were "sold out for some Tk 2 crore" on the night before the election. Ali dismissed the allegation as false.
Syed Ayub Ali, the AL-backed candidate in Narail who lost to party dissident Sohrab Hossain Biswas, claimed that some local party men, led by district AL President Shubash Chandra Bose and local MP Kabirul Haque Mukti, worked against him.
"They went against me for several reasons. The candidate spent at least Tk 1.5 crore to buy votes," he alleged.
In Pirojpur, AL-nominated chairman candidate Shah Alam made a similar claim. He lost to the party dissident Mohiuddin Maharaj.
Alam claimed Mohiuddin spent a huge amount of money to buy votes.
Comments from Sohrab and Mohiuddin were not immediately available.
In the run-up to the elections, different media reported that chairman and member candidates were allegedly distributing money and gifts among influence voters. A number of MPs breached the electoral code of conduct by seeking votes for their favourite candidates in different districts.
The BNP did not join the polls race, knowing it doesn't have enough electorate.
Also, the party alleged that the polls were in conflict with the constitution as the general public cannot vote in this election.
The JP, the main opposition in parliament, also boycotted the polls.
The 11 districts where AL rebels became chairmen are Rajshahi, Sunamganj, Panchagarh, Jamalpur, Sherpur, Pirojpur, Brahmanbaria, Narail, Meherpur, Satkhira and Chuadanga.
The sole independent chairman candidate won in Nilphamari and the sole JP aspirant in Gaibandha.
MEMBER POSTS
AL men also bagged member posts in most districts.
In Feni and Bhola, the ruling party men secured the member posts unopposed.
A district council is comprised of a chairman and 20 members, including five female members (reserved seat).
UNUSUAL POLLS
Yesterday's polls were different in many counts.
Unlike the main feature of any other election in the country when the polling areas see festivity and assemblage of enthusiastic voters at the polling stations on the voting day, the picture was starkly different.
There was no long queue of voters. Voting began at 9:00am in 57 districts and ended at 2:00pm. Common people showed little interest in the voting. In some areas, people did not even know about the polls and had no idea who the voters were.
Take Mahmuda Khanam of Andarkilla area in Chittagong city. She was surprised to see a lot of policemen in front of Dr Khastagir Government Girls' High School, a polling centre. A police official asked her to take another lane as she was passing by the college.
"Actually, I did not know about the election," she said shyly, after a reporter of The Daily Star told her about it.
Azizar Rahman of Rajpur village in Lalmonirhat Sadar said, "There was little enthusiasm as there were no general voters.”
It was the select electorate and supporters of the candidates who showed any interest.
However, the election was held peacefully save for a few stray incidents of violence.
A clash between the supporters of two member candidates at Teguria High School polling centre in Chandpur left 10 people, including chairman of a union parishad, wounded.
In Madaripur, tension ran high at a polling station in Rajoir upazila when some outsiders led by upazila AL President Motaleb Mia tried to enter the centre before voting began. Later police chased them away.
Rajshahi-3 lawmaker Ayen Uddin met voters at Kesharhat municipality on Monday night and sought votes for his preferred chairman candidate, violating electoral law.
He even stayed at his constituency yesterday, ignoring the instruction given by the Speaker.
In Kurigram, BCL activists allegedly attacked AL rebel chairman candidate Panir Ahmed's microbus and vandalised the windowpanes.
Panir said his vehicle came under attack in Ulipur upazila around noon.
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