Mymensingh, Cumilla City Polls: It’s a show of businesspeople
Majority of the mayor and councillor aspirants in Cumilla and Mymensingh city by-polls are businessmen, a citizen's forum said yesterday.
In Mymensingh city, 60 percent of the mayoral aspirants are businesspeople, while it is 75 percent in Cumilla city.
Dilip Kumar Sarkar, chief coordinator of Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik, revealed these at an online press conference after the organisation analysed affidavits of mayor and councillor candidates submitted to the election commission.
Of the 222 candidates in Mymensingh, 63.51 percent are business persons.
Besides, above 15 percent are housewives, 5.85 percent service holders, 3.60 percent involved in farming, and 1.80 percent lawyers.
Out of the five mayoral candidates in Mymensingh, Ikramul Haque, Ehtesamul Haque, and Shahidul Islam are businessmen, and Md Rezaul Haque and Sadequl Haque Khan (Milky) are lawyers.
Local polls also seem to be dominated by businessmen. This trend is a sign of increasing use of money in elections. The dominance of businessmen and underrepresentation of other professions is not good for a democratic system.
Nearly 80 percent of the ward councillor candidates and about 29 percent of reserved seat councillor candidates are businesspeople.
Of the four mayoral candidates in Cumilla City's mayoral by-election, Monirul Haque, Nur-ur Rahman Mahmud Tanim, and Tahsin Bahar's profession is business.
"Like other elections, local elections also seem to be dominated by businessmen. This trend is a sign of increasing use of money in elections. Also, the dominance of businessmen and underrepresentation of other professions is not positive, and it is not good for a democratic system," said Dilip.
In the Mymensingh city elections, 48 percent of candidates have educational qualifications below SSC.
Shujan said that there is a murder case or attempted murder case against seven councillor candidates in Mymensingh.
More than 63 percent of candidates from Mymensingh City earn less than five lakh taka per year. However, 47 candidates did not mention income.
Of the mayoral candidates in Cumilla, independent candidate Monirul Haque earned the highest annual income of Tk 72 lakh 31 thousand 333. Next is Tahsin Bahar, who earns Tk 13 lakh 64 thousand 763 taka. The income of the remaining two candidates is less than Tk five lakh.
Shujan said many candidates didn't submit income tax returns, although they were obliged to do so by relevant rules.
Among the five mayoral candidates in Mymensingh, only Ikramul Haque and Rezaul Haque have filed income tax returns. Among the 222 candidates for this city election, income tax returns of only 18.92 percent have been received.
Among the four mayoral candidates of Cumilla by-election, Noor-ur-Rahman Mahmud Tanim and Tahseen Bahar submitted income tax-related information.
Shujan Secretary Badiul Alam Majumdar said, "Although there is an obligation to file income tax returns, many people do not comply with it. Their nomination paper should be cancelled. Even in the national elections, many people did not provide income tax information. The Election Commission doesn't notice these, and they don't have a headache [about it]."