Awami League nominates Selina Hayat Ivy to seek re-election as Narayanganj mayor

Narayanganj Mayor Selina Hayat Ivy has won the Awami League's nomination to run again for the office even though the party's local unit would not recommend her.

The local government nomination board of the party at a meeting on Friday selected Ivy as its candidate for the Dec 22 polls to Narayanganj City Corporation (NCC).

The Awami League said in a media statement that its chief Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina chaired the meeting at the Ganabhaban.

Ivy, a vice-president of the party's Narayanganj unit, defeated heavyweight Awami League leader AKM Shamim Osman, who was unofficially supported by many of the local and central Awami League leaders in the last NCC elections in 2011.

Recently, Narayanganj-4 MP Shamim introduced the party's Narayanganj City unit President Anwar Hossain as the Awami League mayor hopeful.

After the Election Commission announced the schedule for the polls, the city unit of the Awami League held an extended meeting and proposed the names of Anwar, who had backed Ivy at the last election, and two others for the next election.

Ivy, a doctor by training, told the media that she would not contest in the polls if she failed to get the party's nomination.

"I will go by the party decision, whatever it is. I will not run for election going against the party decision. I have made up my mind," she said.

The NCC election will be held along party lines for the first time this year. Ivy and Shamim fought the polls in 2011 on a non-partisan basis and without using party symbols.

With the amendments to the related law, political parties are now able to nominate candidates for the local government elections. So, Ivy will be fighting the elections with the Awami League's polls logo, 'boat'.

The hatchet between Ivy and the Osman family in Narayanganj dates back to the times when her father, Ali Ahmed Chunka, was the leader of a faction opposed to the Osmans. Chunka had also served as the then municipality chairman.

Ivy returned from New Zealand during the regime of BNP-led four-party alliance and led the party’s local chapter at a troubled time. Most members of the Osman family had been 'absent' in Narayanganj at the time.

Ivy, the first female mayor in Bangladesh, has been representing Narayanganj as a public representative for 13 years - eight years as municipality chairman and five years as mayor.

The Awami League statement also said the meeting decided to prioritise public opinion in nominating candidates for the upcoming Zila Parishad (district council) elections.

The presidents and general secretaries of the Awami League committees in 61 districts, which are going to the polls on Dec 28, have been asked to recommend names for 15 general councillors and five female councillors within a week.