Crucial for all, but reasons different

The electoral battle for Rangpur mayor is crucial for the Awami League, BNP and Jatiya Party as they see the polls from different perspectives.

The city is going to witness the battle of ballots between the mayor hopefuls from the three major political parties as the election will be held tomorrow in a partisan manner.  

Electioneering for the vote came to an end at midnight last night. All the mayor and councilor candidates passed a busy day yesterday making pledges to develop the city.

A total of 393,994 voters are expected to exercise their franchise to elect their representatives. Local political leaders and experts said there are around 70,000 voters from religious minority communities and about 36,000 new voters.

Sharfuddin Ahmed Jhantu, Kawsar Zaman Babla and Mostafizar Rahman Mostafa have been contesting the mayoral polls from the AL, BNP and Jatiya Party respectively.

Experts and voters said the AL finds itself in a win-win situation. If the party wins the mayoral polls, it would claim that it has gained popularity. If it goes otherwise, it would say that a fair election is possible under the incumbent government.

For Jatiya Party, the election is a challenging one as Rangpur is a stronghold of the party. A win in the mayoral polls would give the party an upper hand over other parties in regaining its position in Rangpur division. It would also enable the party to gain bargaining power with the probable alliance partners ahead of the next national polls.

The BNP, however, sees the mayoral election as a good opportunity for it to appear as an alternative to Jatiya Party as its ally Jamaat-e-Islami has a strong support base in the city corporation area.

“The mayoral polls are a test for the Jatiya Party's existence. If the party loses here, its existence would be under threat. On the other hand, the Awami League and BNP have nothing to lose,” Tuhin Wadud, writer, researcher and also a teacher at Begum Rokeya University, told The Daily Star.

He said the AL wants to capitalise on the government's development activities and also show that people are in favour of development.

Jatiya Party was never defeated in any elections in Rangpur city after the fall of the then Ershad government in 1990. Jhontu won the non-partisan mayoral polls in 2012 with blessings from the AL.

Local Jatiya Party leaders said Mustafa has a clean image and is popular among the voters. In the last mayoral polls, he bagged 77,000 votes as an independent candidate.

“A win for plough [electoral symbol of Jatiya Party] would mean that the government has won. If the boat [electoral symbol of Awami League] sinks, it would not indicate a defeat for the Awami League. Rather, it would be a defeat for Jhantu,” said Mashiur Rahman Ranga, state minister for LGRD and also a Jatiya Party lawmaker from Rangpur.

He hoped his party candidate would win by a margin of at least one lakh votes.

Voters envisaged that the main battle would take place between Mustafa and Jhantu.

Md Akbar Hossain, president of the Rangpur chapter of Sujan, a civil society platform, said Jhantu's position is not good this year as he did not behave well with people after becoming mayor.

“People are resentful of his behaviour. He didn't carry out any development activities in 18 new wards out of a total 33. He will bag some votes as he is contesting the polls under a party banner.”

Akbar said there is a good possibility Mustafa would do well in the polls as he has been campaigning since his defeat in the last election, maintaining a good relation with the voters.

About the BNP candidate, he said the party's vote would increase this time as its ally Jamaat has a good support base in the city corporation area.

Talking to The Daily Star, AL Presidium Member Abdur Razzak said, “The position of our mayor candidate is good although some people are claiming that the Jatiya Party nominee is in a good position. The prime minister picked the party candidate based on the report of a field survey. Many are saying that we would give the mayor post to Jatiya Party as a gift. It's not true. We are contesting the election and our central leaders are devising the strategy to win it.”