Police evaluate popularity of AL-blessed, rival councillor candidates in Dhaka city polls

Apart from performing regular duties, officers-in-charge of police stations in the capital had been busy assessing the popularity of the Awami League-backed councillor candidates and AL rebels for the last one week, said DMP sources.

If, going by the assessment reports, the AL finds a rebel candidate more popular than the party-backed candidate, it might change its decision at the last moment and endorse the popular one, AL insiders said.

The police officers were assigned by deputy commissioners to gauge the popularity of the candidates in the April 28 elections, and send reports to a specified email and fax numbers by 12:00noon yesterday. 

The government and the ruling AL, however, denied issuing instructions to Dhaka Metropolitan Police to make such assessment.
State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said he was unaware of the deputy commissioners' directives to OCs, and that his ministry did not ask them to carry out such task.

“If the DMP is conducting such assessment, it is doing that willingly,” he said.

Five OCs have confirmed to The Daily Star that they received letters from DCs and worked accordingly. 
DMP sources said the deputy commissioners assigned all OCs in Dhaka North and South to make the assessment. The DMP has 49 police stations, two of which are out of city corporation areas.

Despite repeated attempts, DMP Commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia couldn't be reached over his mobile phone.

Wishing anonymity, an AL central committee member said the DMP was assessing the popularity of pro-AL councillor aspirants, but the party didn't request the DMP to do so. 

The Daily Star has obtained a copy of the evaluation papers given to the OCs. The document contains serial and ward numbers, name, address, age and profession of the candidates, whether a candidate is AL-endorsed or AL rebel, and a box for giving mark out of 100 to judge a candidate's popularity. 

The OCs were asked to send a copy of the assessment report to opsdmp@gmail.com and also fax it to 8332775.
A police official said many OCs already submitted the reports while some sought more time to complete the task.
“Apart from our regular duty, we made the assessment as asked by the high-ups,” said an OC, who was apparently embarrassed to do the task. 

Former IGP Nurul Huda said that in a broader context, police can make assessment on anyone if they want.
“If police think assessment of Awami League candidates are needed to maintain public order and prevent crime, they can do it,” he said.

Meanwhile, police stepped up drives to arrest mayoral and councillor candidates accused in criminal cases, leaving most BNP candidates, sued for criminal offences, with no option but to stay out of election campaigns. 

In the last three days, two BNP-backed councillor candidates were arrested in Mirpur and Paltan, creating panic among the candidates accused in criminal cases. 

A number of OCs said they launched special drives on Saturday to arrest the accused in criminal cases, listed criminals and possessors of illegal arms ahead of the city polls. 

“In my area, a BNP-backed councillor candidate is accused in cases for committing acts of violence. We are looking for him … But he was not even seen in election campaigns,” said an OC in Mirpur.  

Joint Commissioner Monirul Islam, spokesperson of the DMP, told this correspondent that police would arrest anyone -- be it a mayoral or councillor candidate -- if he is accused in a criminal case. 

According to affidavits submitted to the Election Commission, 62 of the 88 BNP-endorsed councillor candidates are accused in criminal cases. 

Most of the cases were filed in the last three years for vandalism and torching of vehicles.

Visiting several wards in both city corporations, the correspondents found that the AL-backed councillor candidates and its rebels were carrying out hectic campaigns. But the presence of BNP-backed candidates was thin. 

Locals in several wards said the BNP-endorsed candidates are running campaigns only through posters. 
In some wards, wives of BNP-backed councillor hopefuls are conducting campaigns on behalf of their husbands who chose not to go out in public for fear of arrest.

The AL lent its support to 91 candidates against 93 councillor posts, leaving two wards open to all party men. The party is trying to convince its dissidents to publicly support party-backed councillor aspirants, but hasn't seen much success.

According to AL insiders, around 100 AL dissidents -- 60 in Dhaka South City Corporation and 40 in Dhaka North City Corporation -- are in the race.

Rashidul Hasan and Mahbubur Rahman Khan contributed to this report.