Hasina asks party leaders to find out why AL candidate lost in Rangpur city mayoral polls

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has asked the leaders of the ruling Awami League to get to the bottom of why the party candidate suffered such a crushing defeat in Rangpur city mayoral election.

Sumon Mahbubbdnews24.com
Published : 23 Dec 2017, 06:38 PM
Updated : 23 Dec 2017, 06:38 PM

Several Awami League leaders, who were present at Saturday’s meeting of the party’s Presidium at the Ganabhaban, spoke to bdnews24.com about the issue.

Awami League Presidium member Abdul Mannan Khan said Hasina asked them to bolster organisational activities from the beginning of the next year for the next parliamentary election.

Another leader of the party told bdnews24.com on condition of anonymity that the prime minister expressed satisfaction over the Rangpur Corporation election as it held peacefully.

The prime minister said the latest survey by the party showed that the Jatiya Party would do well in the election if the disputes in the Awami League were not settled, the leader said.

“She asked to find out why the Awami League candidate lost by such a huge margin,” he added.

In Thursday's elections, Jatiya Party's Mostafizar Rahman Mostafa beat the Awami League's ex-mayor Sharfuddin Ahmed Jhantu by a margin of nearly 100,000 votes.

Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader said they were considering the defeat as a ‘political victory’ and ‘victory of democracy’.

The Awami League leader who spoke to bdnews24.com about the Ganabhaban meeting said the Presidium members of the party would be tasked with bolstering activities in one organisational division each.  

Quader was tasked with distributing the duty, and the work would start in the first week of next year, he said.

The Awami League leaders also discussed the programmes to mark the fourth anniversary of the 10th parliamentary election on Jan 5 and Bangabandhu’s Homecoming Day on Jan 10.

They also discussed the nomination of a candidate for the Dhaka North City Corporation mayor’s post.

The name of the Awami League candidate would be announced after the announcement of the schedule for the polls, Hasina told the meeting, according to a Presidium member.

Besides Quader and Mannan, Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury, Public Administration Minister Syed Ashraful Islam, Public Works Minister Mosharraf Hossain, Abdur Razzaque, Abdul Matin Chowdhury, Sahara Khatun, Kazi Zafarullah and Faruk Khan attended the meeting.