Electoral Code of Conduct: Violations abound on Bangabandhu Avenue
Violations of the electoral code of conduct ran rampant as MP aspirants and their supporters flocked to the Awami League's central office on Bangabandhu Avenue yesterday.
Those seeking the ruling party's nomination arrived at the party office in droves with "band parties", musical instruments, festoons, and brandishing colourful placards – a clear violation of the code.
Supporters of the aspirants took over streets, blocking roads from Gulistan to GPO intersection and causing gridlocks there and in adjoining areas.
Whereas, the code says political parties and candidates will not be allowed to organise rallies, processions, or any other canvassing activities without the permission of district magistrates, police commissioners, or authorised officials.
The crowd was so large that party's General Secretary Obaidul Quader could not enter the AL headquarters despite three attempts in half an hour.
Quader, who went there to monitor the nomination paper sales, eventually returned to the party chief's political office in Dhanmondi, said Sayem Khan, deputy office secretary of the party.
In a press release issued on Thursday, the AL gave directives that nomination-seekers must collect and submit the application forms themselves or through a representative without public gatherings.
However, AL aspirants ignored the directive as each of them arrived with swarms of supporters, making the entire affair chaotic.
Party leaders also resorted to loudspeakers, through which they announced that none other than nomination-seekers can gather near the office and that discipline has to be maintained.
The announcement too fell on deaf ears.
While areas around the party office were jampacked, the rest of the capital was seemingly quiet and empty due to the ongoing hartal.
Speaking to The Daily Star, Abdullah Md Abbas, a jobholder, said, "I was forced to reroute after being stranded on Bangabandhu Avenue for over 20 minutes due to heavy traffic."
Though the Election Commission had asked that aspirants remove posters, banners, paintings, billboards, arches, pandals, lightings, and other campaign materials at their own costs, the reality was quite the contrary.
Billboards and posters of AL leaders were seen strewn across Mirpur-10, Moddho Badda, Gulsitan, Sadarghat and New Market areas.
Around 1:30pm, Mainul Hossain Khan Nikhil, general secretary of Jubo League, was seen going towards Bangabandhu Avenue to collect his nomination form. He was accompanied by several hundred AL supporters in cars and on motorcycles.
At the party's central office, this correspondent saw thousands of supporters accompanying the aspirants.
Arshad Adnan Rony, seeking the AL nomination for Pabna-5, came with hundreds of people as he bought his nomination papers around 3:00pm.
The scenes were similar when Hasan Mahmud, information and broadcasting minister, collected his form earlier around 12:30pm.
"Travelling from Chattogram in over 50 buses, microbuses and even trains, at least 2000 of us came to support the minister," said an AL activist.
Meanwhile, the electoral code of conduct disallows election campaigns until December 18.
Tanzil Talukder, a supporter of Tangail-2 nomination-seeker Younus Islam Talukder, said over a thousand people came to accompany the aspirant.
Speaking to The Daily Star, he said, "There are rules that only the aspirant or a representative will enter the office, but many don't want to abide by it. It is considered a festival by many, so no one wants to miss out."
Generating Tk 6.6 crore, 1,212 nomination forms were sold on the second day of sales.
Of those, 1,180 nomination forms were sold in person and 32 online.
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