Gazipur City Corporation goes to election Tuesday with hopes of fairness

After a month of election campaign, Gazipur City went quiet on the eve of voting as the Election Commission sent the ballot papers and boxes to the polling stations.

It says it is ready to hold free and fair voting with no reports of violence yet while the voters are hoping for peace to prevail during and after the voting.

Election observers say they want the EC to regain the public trust ‘it lost in the recent Khulna City Corporation polls’.

Polling at the city corporation with around 1.14 million voters will be held at 425 centres from 8am to 4pm on Tuesday.

As many as 256 candidates will fight it out among themselves for 57 general councillor posts while 84 are contesting for 19 councillor posts reserved for women.

Though candidates of six parties and one independent aspirant are running for the mayor’s post, the main battle is expected to boil down to between the ruling Awami League’s Zahangir Alam and the BNP’s Hasan Uddin Sarker.

Bachchu Mia, a voter in his 60s, told bdnews24.com on the eve of voting that they always had peaceful voting in Gazipur.

“We hope this will continue. The atmosphere is very good until now,” he said, referring to no reports of violence.

Bachchu said Zahangir would secure more votes than others at Joydebpur and Sadar Upazilas as he resides there.

“Even many of the BNP supporters will vote for him as he is more connected with the people than his rivals are in these areas.   

“But,” he added, “The votes in Hasan Sarker’s area Tongi will determine the results.”

Declarations submitted by both candidates show former Bangladesh Chhatra League leader Zahangir has 8.5 times greater wealth than BNP Central Executive Committee Member Hasan does.

Zahangir, now the General Secretary of the Awami League’s Gazipur city unit, filed taxes of Tk 7.8 million against his net wealth of Tk 70.9 million, while Hasan filed taxes of Tk 80,564 against his net wealth of Tk 8.2 million.

He as an annual income of Tk 20.1 million while the BNP candidate earns Tk 10.1 million per annum.

The 39-year-old Zahangir was denied the Awami League nomination last time, but was selected over Azmat Ullah Khan for this year’s polls.

This is the first time the polls to Gazipur City Corporation are going to be held on party lines after the last elections won by the BNP-backed candidate MA Mannan on July 7, 2013.

Hasan, 70, once a Jatiya Party leader, is also a vice-president of the party’s Gazipur district unit.

He is a former chairman of Tongi Municipality. He was an MP when the Jatiya Party was in power in the 1980s.

With elections to Rajshahi, Barishal and Sylhet city corporations set for July 30 and the parliamentary elections due by the end of this year, all eyes are on the Gazipur civic elections. 

The BNP has expressed concern over the EC’s role in holding fair polls in Gazipur.

Hasan alleged harassment of his supporters and agents by police and ruling Awami League activists.

The BNP has also complained to the EC that the local administration was siding with the ruling party candidate.

The Awami League said the allegation is aimed at ‘belittling the EC’.

Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader said, “The government is facilitating the EC in line with the Constitution. There has been no interference.”

The commission said it was also attaching importance to the Gazipur polls before the elections to the three city corporations and the general election.

“We will try our best to hold free and fair elections,” EC Secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed said.

During the campaign, waterlogging appeared as a major issue in the city.

Now the Met Office has forecast rains on the voting day, raising fears among voters that they will have to wade through water on the streets to cast their votes.
 
Weatherman AKM Nazmul Haque hoped the EC would take precautions for the rains.
 

Gazipur BNP mayoral candidate Hasan Uddin Sarker holds a press conference at the party’s main election office in Tongi on the last day of the campaign on Sunday. Photo: Mostafigur Rahman

Returning Officer Rakib Uddin Mondol urged the voters to come to the polling stations and cast their votes without any fear.

He warned of action against candidates, supporters or officials for standing in the way of fair polls.

Abdul Alim, a director observers’ platform Election Working Group, told bdnews24.com: “There had been some irregularities in the last polls held in Khulna, but these could not tilt the mayoral polls results much. Now we want to see an idea election in Gazipur.”

“The EC will have to give importance to Gazipur city polls to regain the trust it lost in Khulna so that no one can complain of unfair practices and irregularities in Gazipur.

“If something bad happens in Gazipur, it will be difficult for the EC to win back the public trust. It will affect the entire culture of voting,” he warned.