Many factors to influence port city polls.
Personal image of two main rival candidates Awami League-backed AJM Nasir and BNP-backed M Manjur Alam, advantage and disadvantage of Manjur’s incumbency and intra-party conflict may be the key factors in the election today’s election to Chittagong City Corporation. Some city residents said disadvantages of Manjur’s incumbency might play a major role in the poling as he failed to solve water logging, a perennial problem in the port city, during his five year tenure as the mayor. Some others found arguing that Manjur would rather get advantage of his incumbency as he did not make the city corporation a safe haven for opposition parties and tried to make the corporation free from corruption. Some of the electorate found Manju as a ‘not-harmful’ man, but identified his failure in solving many problems including traffic congestion and water logging. Many residents recall rowdiness of Nasir’s followers, many of whom are known as extortionists and criminals. A number of city dwellers and different professionals expressed their concern about the election as the opposition campaigners were being assaulted and arrested and the police were raiding their houses.
They said that Nasir had capacity to capture most of the polling stations. Some said that people would cast their vote considering the national political situation as both the Awami League and the BNP took the elections seriously. The last election to the Chittagong City Corporation was held on June 17, 2010, in which former Awami League leader Monjur Alam got the support of BNP and defeated the then incumbent mayor ABM Mohiuddin Chowdury, also an Awami League, by 95,528 votes. Many voters considered water-logging as a major faction for Mohiuddin;s defeat. Manjur has created several economic zones for Chittagong City Corporation and made it a self-reliant organisation, many city dwellers said. Many city dwellers said they did not believe in the promises the contesting candidates made as elected contenders hardy recognised their pledges. ‘We need a fair and capable one who will work for the port city development beyond political grouping,’ said first time voter Fahima Nishi, a young social worker. Manjur worked for at least 17 years as a ward councillor and then five years as the Mayor.
He is a successful entrepreneur with more than eighty business ventures, and has established many schools and charitable institutions so far, said many voters. AJM Nasir is the general secretary of Chittagong city Awami League. He also served as Chhatra League vice-president in 1981 and 1983. Analysts said that internal conflict in the parties party’s could be an influencing factor in the mayoral race for both Manjur and Nasir. Earlier, some top AL leaders in Chittagong expressed their reluctance to work for Nasir accusing him of showing ‘autocratic attitude.’ Chittagong-based Hefazat-e-Islam leaders and activists were working for Manjur under the banner of Islami Oikyo Jote from the very beginning of the election campaign. In the election, 1,813,449 people have enrolled to cast their vote at 41 words. The Election Commission set up 719 polling centres, 595 of whom were identified as ‘risky.’ Election observers and most of the aspirants claimed that the main factor was the absence of level playing field. They rampantly complained that the government-backed aspirants were privileged with state mechanism and ruling party aggression. The opponents were not getting equal treatment from both the commission and the police.
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