Narayanganj mayoral polls

The Awami League (AL)'s acting general secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif on October 18 openly said his party is supporting a mayoral candidate in the Narayanganj city corporation election. He tried to assure his audience that the support would be given 'within rules' stopping short of naming the candidate AL was backing. But as we see it, what is supposed to be a party-less poll is being made a farce of.
The is disturbing, more so when the main opposition, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) is also backing one of its candidates.
This clear departure from the norm of holding the local government polls in a non-partisan manner is also illegal as far as the Election commission rules go.
By acknowledging its support, the Awami League has only made something open that was being done secretly. One can say that it is rather a better option than doing the same in a surreptitious manner with a likely fallout that it would generate heat in the contest. Essentially, the AL by the decision to support one candidate over the other has lost its neutrality. And it has lent its support to a candidate who lacks credibility vis-à-vis one with a clean track record. In this manner, it has also laid bare its political bankruptcy.
As a matter of fact, the norms of local government elections have been breached from the grassroots upwards. And that is why we have often seen that violence has marked local government elections. In the present case, there are seeds of violence in the Narayanganj polls because of confrontational run up to the campaigning and the polls.
In the campaigning, the candidates and their supporters should make it a point to avoid all forms of provocation and intimidation to avert any eruption of violence.
Apart from the law enforcement agencies, the Election Commission needs to stringently apply the electoral codes of conduct. The ruling party in particular, should lead the way in refraining from any kind of negative tactics.