It's time for campaign

Both the Awami League and BNP are geared up to run campaigns with the electoral symbols from today immediately after the Election Commission officially allocates the party symbols for the December 30 municipal polls.

The first-time local body polls under party banner have already induced much excitement among leaders and activists of the two major political archrivals. 

“As the battle will be held between the two electoral symbols -- sheaf of paddy and boat -- madam [the BNP chairperson] has taken the election seriously and instructed us to put all our efforts in the race,” said Mazibor Rahman Sarwar, organising secretary of the BNP, last night.

The party under the supervision of its chief Khaleda Zia has been preparing the focal points of the election manifesto with which its leaders and mayoral candidates will ask voters to cast ballots in their favour, BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told The Daily Star.

Asked which issues BNP's mayoral candidates would raise to voters, he said oppression and enforced disappearances of political leaders and activists, shrinking of democratic space and human rights violations would surely dominate their campaigns apart from local issues.  

The party is also preparing guidelines for its leaders to follow during electioneering, said BNP Joint Secretary General Mohammad Shajahan. The campaigners would draw voters' attention to what he said was the controversial January 5 national election in 2014, absence of good governance and corruption. 

“We will emphasize the need for good governance and tell voters that developments in their areas will be well-balanced if a democratic government comes to power.”

The victory of BNP mayoral candidates is necessary to force the Awami League-led government to hold free and fair national polls under a non-party administration, Shajahan added.

However, the party in power will only raise local problems and their solutions in its election campaigns to woo voters.

The party is set to adopt a chapter of its 2014 election manifesto, headlined “Decentralisation of power, local government and administration” as its stressing statement in the campaigns for the municipal polls, said AL Organising Secretary Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury.

In the manifesto, the ruling party pledged to promote greater participation of citizens in the operation of the governmental and national development activities.

The local governments, as the manifesto says, will be empowered to handle development programmes tied with education, health, law and order, infrastructure development and social security. 

Integrated work plans will be made to make the local government bodies more powerful and responsible, it adds. 

The ruling party has not come up with any specific plan to conduct electioneering for party-sponsored candidates, but the central leaders will conduct campaigns for those in crucial places to secure victory.

The Municipal (Election Code of Conduct) Rules 2015 bars ministers and MPs from electioneering and so leaders who are neither minister nor MP will participate in election campaigns.

The party has planned to send its leaders from the minority community to the municipalities with huge minority voters, sources said. Besides, if any party-backed candidate wants central leaders to be present in his election campaigns, the party will send a team to his municipality.