Security beefed up for polls

Despite promises by candidates of turning Comilla into a mega city with all necessary civic amenities, voters are still in a dilemma to choose a suitable leader who will be able to shoulder the tasks.
Both the voters and candidates are getting ready for tomorrow's elections where a total of 1,69,273 voters, including 86,074 females, will exercise their mandate to elect a mayor and 36 ward councillors.
Nine mayor aspirants and 287 councillor candidates are contesting the maiden Comilla City Corporation polls.
The entire city has been brought under a three-tier security blanket, and the authorities have already completed their preparation to ensure free, fair and peaceful elections.
A leading mayoral contender alleged that his agents are being harassed by the law enforcers. Police, however, denied the allegation.
According to locals, it would be a great challenge for the mayoral candidates to resolve the existing problems like traffic jam, water logging, drug peddling, incoherent development of infrastructure and deterioration of law and order in the city.
“They [leading mayoral candidates] have led the Comilla politics for last three decades. Some of them even headed the now defunct Comilla municipality but did not do anything. How will they run a city corporation?” Tarek Mahmud, a local resident, questioned.
Meanwhile, mayoral and councillor candidates gave their best to draw public attention during the last-moment campaign that ended last midnight.
All the candidates attended huge number of small rallies and meetings at different areas of the city.
Besides the deployment of Ansar members, 1200 Rab and over 2,000 police personnel will perform their duties to ensure peaceful voting.
Twenty seven executive magistrates and nine judicial magistrates will also work round the clock in consultation with nine election officials.
Election officials said 24 members of law enforcement agencies will be deployed in 24 vulnerable poll centres each while 22 members in normal centres.
The Election Commission has identified 47 out of 65 polling centres as vulnerable considering the previous records of the candidates of the respective wards.
A special team of Rab consisting 30 members and another reserve force of police will be deployed in every two centres on the voting day, said Returning Officer Abdul Baten.
No motor vehicle from outside will be allowed to remain in the city after Tuesday midnight while people [except election-related officials] from outside the city corporation areas will not be allowed to stay, he said, adding that law enforcers have already started working to set up a number of check posts in different areas of the city.
Despite all these security measures, last moment allegations and counter allegations by the rival candidates and their representatives are creating tensions among the voters.
Prominent singer Asif Akbar, also leader of Comilla BNP, alleged that law enforcers are harassing Sammilito Nagorik Committee-backed candidate Monirul Hoque Sakku's polling agents in different ways.
“Police raided houses of some of our polling agents to harass them,” he told The Daily Star yesterday. Police and election commission officials, however, denied his allegations.
Raising doubt on the capabilities of the candidates, Rafiqul Islam, a businessman of town hall market, said “These political leaders allowed illegal vehicles on city roads which later caused chaos on the streets.”
Some aides of ruling party-backed candidate Afzal Khan said if Khan wins the poll they will be able to solve the exiting crises in the city through necessary cooperation from the government.
While Sakku said that he will forge movement if the government does not co-operate him after winning the polls.