Dev works key factor in vote

Development works have been the key factor for consideration by the voters in casting their votes in Kushtia-3 constituency (Sadar upazila).

The Awami League (AL) candidate is in good position in this regard as he implemented several development works.

AL Joint General Secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif, also incumbent lawmaker, is the AL candidate in the constituency. He was elected to the seat in the 2014 election.

Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has nominated Engineer Zakir Hossain Sarker as its candidate. Zakir, chairman of Sarker group, was chairman of Kushtia Sadar upazila. He is contesting in the parliamentary race after quitting from the post of upazila chairman.

This time, implementation of development works would be the factor for consideration of the voters, said people of different walk of life.

The seat was under BNP since 1991 election. AL bagged the seat in 2008. Since then, the seat has been under AL.

According to the voters, no visible development works had been done in Kushtia. People had several pressing demands, including establishment of Medical College and construction of Kushtia town bypass road, Haripur bridge, ICT park etc. But BNP, when it was in power, did not pay heed to the demands.

After it came to power in 2008, the AL government opened the doors of development works in the district. After he was elected lawmaker in 2014, Hanif started to lobby government high-ups, and most of the aforesaid works have been done in the last five years.

Of those, Haripur Sheikh Russel Bridge, at a cost of Tk 113 crore and Kushtia town bypass road at Tk 144 crore have been implemented, and the Medical College is almost complete at a cost of Tk 1,400 crore. 

“We want a lawmaker who will be able to fulfil the desires of the people in the district, because we have been deprived for long,” said Ajoy Sureka, a businessman who is the highest tax payer in the district.

Hanif said he has done only 30 to 35 percent of the work in the last five years.

“My dream is to build the district as a capital of development along with its fame as the cultural capital,” Hanif said.

BNP candidate Zakir Hossain said he will open a new window of development for the district.

“I have joined the race as a fresh candidate of my party. I will do everything for my district's people,” he said.