Dhaka Mayoral Polls Awami Leage holds meetings, BNP rushes to EC

Though the law does not allow, Awami League candidates and leaders are holding meetings and participating in different events ahead of the Dhaka north and south city mayoral polls slated for January 30.

On the other hand, Bangladesh Nationalist Party candidates and leaders are busy filing complaints and demands with the Election Commission as well as the returning officers for ensuring a level playing field for the elections.

The City Corporation (Electoral Code) Rules, 2016 does not permit electioneering before the allocation of election symbols among the candidates.

The EC is scheduled to allocate electoral symbols among the candidates on January 10.

The rules also do not allow any lawmaker to take part in the electioneering for the local government bodies but the Awami League has assigned its advisory council members and lawmakers Amir Hossain Amu and Tofail Ahmed to coordinate its city election activities.

On Monday, a BNP delegation submitted a 21-point charter of demands to chief election commissioner KM Nurul Huda in order to ensure the holding of the city polls in a free, fair and credible manner.

The two BNP mayoral aspirants, Tabith Awal and Ishraque Hossain, also attended the meeting between the BNP and the EC at the Nirbachan Bhaban.

AL coordinator for the Dhaka north city polls Tofail Ahmed, an MP, organised a meeting at Banani to brief the media about their preparation for the election.

AL lawmakers Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, Mahbubul Alam Hanif and Abdus Sobhan and state minister for shipping Khaled Mahmud Chowdhury joined the meeting.

Besides, AL mayoral aspirant Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh took part in a view-exchange meeting at the Shawkat Osman auditorium of the Central Public Library on Sunday night as the key discussant.

National Tea Company chairman Sheikh Kabir Hossain addressed the function as the chief guest.

In its meeting with the EC, the BNP delegation termed the planned use of Electronic Voting Machine as a scheme for vote rigging.

The BNP that strongly opposes the use of the machine in the city polls claimed that the EVM system was flawed, BNP standing committee member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury told reporters emerging form the meeting.

He said that the move to use EVMs in the polls was taken to ensure ruling party victories by keeping voters form the voting.  

The CEC said that the commission decided to use EVMs in the city polls as it already proved that the system helped prevent vote rigging.

Amir Khasru said that ruling party people had already stared intimidating the BNP candidates.

He said that a BNP councillor candidate was arrested after he emerged from the returning officer’s office.

Another councillor aspirant failed to appeal against the cancelation of his nomination paper by returning officer as he was found at a potato filed in Munshiganj after he was kidnaped.

Amir Khasru also said that the house of a BNP’s councillor candidate for female reserved seat came under attack.

Meanwhile, urging BNP not to spread confusion over the EVM in the election, Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader on Monday said that his party wanted free, fair and neutral elections in two Dhaka city corporations.

‘We will extend the all-out cooperation to the Election Commission regarding the forthcoming city polls. But the BNP is confusing the people by delivering claptrap statements over the use of EVM, sensing the absolute defeat in the election,’ he said.

In another development, Dhaka north city polls returning officer Abul Kashed on Monday served a show cause notice to ruling Awami League mayoral aspirant for Dhaka north city Md Atiqul Islam for his alleged involvement in violation of electoral code of conduct.

The RO asked Atiq to give his reply within two days.

Besides, leaders of the Awami League-led alliance on Monday at an exchange of views programme demanded amendment to the electoral law so that the elected representatives of people, especially the members of the parliament, could take part in campaigns of local government elections.

Workers Party of Bangladesh, a partner of the alliance, organised the programme with leaders of the alliance at Dhaka Reporters’ Unity conference room.

Meanwhile, Supreme Court lawyer Ashoke Kumar Ghosh filed a writ petting for changing the election date for the Dhaka city bodies as the Hindu community would celebrate Saraswati Puja on the day.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net