Sajeeb Wazed Joy unveils pre-polls data suggesting AL-backed candidates will win Dhaka city polls

Prime Minister’s ICT Adviser Sajeeb Ahmed Wazed Joy has said Awami League’s pre-polls data shows candidates the party is backing are poised to a win at the two Dhaka city corporations.

He posted outcomes of their survey in his Facebook page on Monday which claim ‘the Awami League backed Mayor candidates have a significant lead’.

The declaration of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s son comes amidst the BNP’s claims of certain victory if the polls were fair.

“Our margin of error for both polls is 2.1% at a 95% confidence level,” the ICT adviser said.

He said he studied ‘polling’ at Harvard University and taught their coordinators everything he knew.

The survey questionnaire and methodology were set by Awami League chief’s information cell CRI and Shuchinta Foundation, and was conducted by Force n’ Focus Limited.

He said a total of 2,280 voters in Dhaka South and 2,160 voters in Dhaka North took the survey.

There was “almost equal number of male and female respondents varying in different age groups (60% Youth).”

The survey found that in Dhaka South City Corporation, 49 percent promised votes for pro-Awami League candidate Sayeed Khokon against 43 percent for BNP-backed Mirza Abbas.

In Dhaka North, 51.9 percent said they preferred Annisul Huq while 33 percent would vote for Tabith Awal.

If the survey was to be believed, Bikalpadhara Bangladesh Joint Secretary General Mahi B Chowdhury would secure 8 percent votes of Dhaka North.

Jatiya Party’s Saifuddin Milon would secure 4 percent in Dhaka South.

The survey also found that in Dhaka North, 57 percent relied on Awami League for national development while 39 wanted the BNP to regain power.

The number remained same for Awami League in Dhaka South while BNP’s popularity rose to 43 percent.

“For Dhaka City, without the Awami League in power you would not have all the flyovers and elevated roadways that we built in our last term,” Joy commented in the Facebook post.

“We are now in the process of building the metro system, but that will not happen without an Awami League Mayor in charge of City Corporation. So I urge you all to go out and vote on election day.”

He also explained his confidence in the survey. “Most polls conducted by the media in Bangladesh are not very accurate. They simply have their own journalists ask people at random.

“That is not how polling is done. You have to ensure your questions are not biased, your sample is representative of the population and that you cover the geographic area evenly.”

“I studied polling at Harvard and have taught our poll coordinators everything I learnt. We have refined our polling over the past 7 years to where I believe ours is quite accurate,” Joy said.