It’s down to her true grit
Selina Hayat Ivy's personal charisma as well as development activities carried out in Narayanganj city during her two successive tenures in the post of mayor are the key reasons behind her victory in Sunday's polls.
Voters, political leaders and civil society members said the mayor-elect of Narayanganj City Corporation got blessings from her party Awami League, but they attributed her victory mainly to her clean personal image and popularity.
They believe her win in the mayoral polls would mean more development of the city.
On the other hand, Ivy's main rival Taimur Alam Khandakar, a BNP leader, failed to establish his personal image overshadowing his party's. Moreover, a rumour that he got support from influential local AL MP Shamim Osman during electioneering backfired, voters said.
"Ivy created her own image. She got good support from the women and young voters. Her development activities are visible in the city. All these helped her win the polls," Nur Uddin, president of Amra Narayanganjbashi, a non-political social platform, told The Daily Star yesterday.
He also said Ivy's win margin of 66,931 votes showed that it was not a close fight, but the margin could have been smaller if Taimur had blessings from his party.
Taimur was relieved of the posts of convener of Narayanganj district BNP and adviser to the party chairperson after he decided to run for mayor.
BNP boycotted NCC polls saying that a free and fair election is not possible under the current Election Commission and the government.
Narayanganj, once known as Dundee of the East, had earned a bad name for abuse of power by some local influential politicians and poor law and order. But there was no violence or irregularities during Sunday's election. Voting was peaceful, free and fair although there was apprehension that violence may take place on the polling day.
People in Narayanganj said Ivy as the city mayor worked rising above partisan differences.
"Ivy created an image of a non-partisan mayor. When she was in office, she did not consider who belonged to which party. That's why she bagged votes from supporters of Awami League and also from those of other political parties," said Tofajjal Hossain, a voter from Chasara area.
Ivy first took office of Narayanganj city mayor in 2011 when the maiden NCC election was held. She got re-elected in 2016 defeating the then BNP-backed candidate by around 70,000 votes.
As Taimur contested this year's election going against the party's decision, many Narayanganj BNP leaders did not join his polls campaign.
Sources in the BNP said the party has three factions in Narayanganj. Taimur leads one in the city area, Md Giasuddin in Siddhirganj and Abul Kalam Azad in Bandar.
They said as BNP did not nominate Taimur, neither Giasuddin nor Azad campaigned for him and their supporters also stayed away from electioneering.
"Some BNP leaders accompanied Taimur at the beginning of the polls campaign. But once he was relieved of party posts, they were not with him," Nur Uddin said.
According to voters, roads in Narayanganj, an industrial hub, improved significantly in the last 10 years as Ivy got full support from the ruling AL.
Although there was a rumor that Shamim Osman will not extend his support to Ivy, the lawmaker publicly announced his support for her just a few days before the polls and asked his supporters to work for the party candidate.
Rafiur Rabbi, senior vice president of Nagorik Committee of Narayanganj, said Ivy's development work and her long fight against criminalisation of local politics are the two major factors that earned her the victory.
"Ivy is popular among the supporters of all political parties because she took a firm stance against an evil force in Narayanganj. Supporters of Awami League and other political parties voted for her. Her courageous role in politics is well known in the city," he said.
Rabbi said Taimur contested the election with the blessings of a quarter and it backfired on him as the people of Narayanganj did not like it.
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