Outsiders defy EC

Flouting an Election Commission (EC) directive, some stalwarts of ruling and main opposition parties yesterday stayed back in Barisal city and campaigned for their party-backed mayoral candidates.
The EC in an order issued on June 10 had asked non-residents and non-voters to leave the city corporation areas two days before the voting there and sent copies of the order to returning officers and others concerned.
As per the directive, all outsiders campaigning for their favourite mayoral aspirants were supposed to leave the city by Wednesday night, since the polls to four city corporations, including Barisal, are due on Saturday.
But ignoring the order, ruling Awami League (AL) senior leaders Tofail Ahmed and Nurunnabi Chowdhury Shaon, and a few junior-level leaders, who are neither residents nor voters of Barisal City Corporation, yesterday campaigned for Shawkat Hossain Hiron in two places of the town.
Their rivals, leaders of main opposition BNP, also did the same. BNP central leaders Mirza Abbas, Abdullah Al Noman, Altaf Hossain Chowdhury and Selima Rahman, among many others, yesterday held a rally in front of the city BNP office seeking votes for Ahsan Habib Kamal.
They also visited different areas electioneering in favour of Kamal.
AL leaders Amir Hossain Amu, AFM Bahauddin Nasim, Afzal Hossain and Pankaj Kumar Debnath also stayed back in Barisal yesterday, but did not take part in the campaigning or in the press conference organised by Hiron in the afternoon.
"I knew it would be a violation of the rules. Therefore, I stayed home and did not take part in any campaign programme today [yesterday]," Amu, who is a resident of Barisal city but not a voter there, told The Daily Star.
Contacted, AL organising secretary AFM Bahauddin Nasim said he along with many leaders left the city yesterday around 3:30pm, immediately after knowing about the rules from the EC.
"We must follow the rules so that the electoral process is not questioned," said Nasim.
AL leader Tofail Ahmed, however, claimed he did not know they were supposed to leave by Wednesday night.
On their stay, BNP's Mirza Abbas claimed that he had contacted the returning officer (RO) and the RO told him that they could stay in the city yesterday.
Other AL leaders, who stayed back, also blamed the RO for their stay.
Most of the AL leaders left Barisal yesterday around 3:00pm while many BNP leaders were still in Barisal as they could not manage transportation.
Asked, Returning Officer Mujibur Rahman said he had not permitted anyone to stay; rather he had asked Barisal Metropolitan Police Commissioner M Shamsuddin to ensure that all outsiders leave the city immediately.
The commissioner told The Daily Star that they had requested the outsiders to leave Barisal or face legal action for violation of the EC directive.