Arani Municipal Polls in Rajshahi: The ‘rebel’ who defeated AL candidate for mayor
Before the January 16 municipal polls, he was blamed for inciting violence. Even his own party -- Awami League -- decided not to nominate him.
AL expelled him over various controversies, even though he was the former mayor of Arani municipality in Rajshahi's Bagha upazila.
Besides, he had been accused in murder and criminal cases, yet he campaigned unperturbed as a rebel candidate.
Despite all these, Md Muktar Ali won the municipal race by defeating AL's mayor candidate Md Shahiduzzaman. He bagged 5,904 votes while Shahiduzzaman got 4,300 votes. BNP candidate Mohammad Tozammel Haque got 1,312 votes.
On January 16, three municipal elections were held in Rajshahi district with AL nominees securing two mayoral posts. Arani is the lone municipality in Bagha upazila.
So how did Muktar pull it off?
Despite being an expelled leader, Muktar told all that he had support of Mohammad Shahriar Alam, an MP from Bagha-Charghat (Rajshahi-6) constituency and state minister for foreign affairs.
And it worked.
With the state minister "behind" him, he also got support from local leaders, which reflected in the polls result.
Muktar won in six out of nine vote centres. He even won the very centre where Shahriar Alam cast his vote -- Joygun Nesa Government Primary School. There, he got 1,195 votes while Shahiduzzaman 77 votes.
Asked, Shahiduzzaman categorically told The Daily Star that he lost the election as he failed to get the essential support of Shahriar Alam and most local party leaders.
The state minister, however, said he could not do anything for the party candidate due to restrictions in the election code of conduct.
"It is very painful for a political activist that he cannot join the campaign of his party's candidate for holding the post of an MP or a state minister," he told reporters on election day.
According to local Awami League leaders, Muktar, involved in agribusiness, came to the limelight under Shahriar Alam's patronage.
He was elected mayor in 2015 by the "choice" of Shahriar Alam. Muktar later became the organising secretary of AL's Arani Municipality unit.
In this election, when he sought party nomination, he was denied due to various controversies and lack of performance, they said.
According to his affidavit submitted to the Election Commission, Muktar studied up to SSC level and has been accused in three cases including a murder case in 2010.
Denied nomination, Muktar began a dispute with the party nominee Shahiduzzaman.
On the night of January 13, "provoked" by Shahiduzzaman's supporters, his supporters attacked Shahiduzzaman's rally. But before that, Muktar's supporters made an announcement of the attack through a mosque's loudspeaker.
Muktar and 450 of his supporters were accused in two criminal cases for beating Shahiduzzaman's men, damaging and torching his election office, blasting crude bombs and firing shots.
The next night, Mukter's men stabbed two of Shahiduzzaman's supporters.
Due to a series of clashes and counter clashes, a tense situation prevailed in Arani. Life was almost at a standstill there till the election day. No violence, however, occurred on the polls day.
'PEOPLE CHOSE ME'
Denying the allegations, Muktar said, "Why would police arrest me for violence? They should verify the allegations first. I was home at the time (of violence)."
He, however, while talking to journalists, showed a wound in his leg and said he got injured by sprinters during the violence.
About the state minister's "support", he said, "I salute the boat (symbol). But voters did not like its candidate. The nomination was bought... As I am the current mayor with the boat symbol, the MP of Bagha-Charghat cannot leave me, because I have the right (to get nominated)."
"When the MP told (me) that he (Shahiduzzaman) got the ticket (nomination)… I wanted to see what people really wanted."
He said, "When I was denied ticket, people in hundreds rallied, demanding my nomination. They signed a petition, boycotting the Awami League nominee and wanted me to contest. This is why I rebelled against the party."
'A DEFEAT FOR AL'
Contacted, Shahiduzzaman said, "I'm upset. I don't blame anyone (for my loss). But I do not understand if I would not get their support (Shahriar Alam and local Awami League leaders), why did Awami League nominate me? It was a defeat for Awami League…"
"When I heard the result of the centre where the state minister voted, I became sure that I was encountering defeat," he added. "Do I have to believe that hundreds of the minister's men went beyond his words and voted for the rebel candidate and he won?"
"I'm not involved in terrorism and extortion… I am not involved in corruption… I'm connected to people and I respect the leadership. I still don't understand why I was punished like that," he added.
'RAIL TRACKS THE DECIDER?'
Talking to The Daily Star yesterday, Shahriar Alam said Muktar's claim of gaining his support was nothing but a "political stunt". "He even used the prime minister's name to win voters' favour," he said.
The state minister said Muktar did not get AL nomination this time since his performance as mayor was unsatisfactory. "Our party's decision for not nominating him was the right one," he said.
To explain Muktar's victory, Shahriar said a local factor worked in his favour.
"In Arani municipality, the voters were quite literally divided into two groups through a railway track… the track went across the municipality and voters of Muktar's side outnumbered that of Shahiduzzaman's," he said.
However, he said, the most significant issue of the Arani election was that it was "completely free and fair" where the AL and rebel candidates secured over 88 percent votes and BNP candidate managed a little over 11 percent.
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