Will Ivy stay on or can Taimur take over? Narayanganj voters give their mandate on Sunday

All eyes are now on Narayanganj where over half a million voters are expected to choose on Sunday whether to keep Salina Hayat Ivy again as mayor of the city corporation for another term, or replace her with Taimur Alam Khandaker. Or altogether someone else.

Observers think the race in Narayanganj is important on a national scale as it will be a mini-referendum on the Awami League governance and closely watched internationally ahead of the parliamentary polls in 2023.     

This is also the last major polls being held under the outgoing election commission led by KM Nurul Huda. After deadly clashes in previous and ongoing union council polls, observers believe the commission can save its face to some extent by giving the people a free, fair and peaceful election in Narayanganj, a city near capital Dhaka.

Salina Hayat Ivy, the Awami League candidate who is seeking reelection, attended a street rally. Her main rival Taimur Alam Khandaker, a BNP leader contesting in the election as an independent, hit the campaign trail after Jum’ah prayers. Photo: Mahmud Zaman Ovi

The Awami League hopeful Ivy, and BNP leader Taimur, who is contesting as an independent, are the main contenders for the mayor’s office. Apart from five more mayor candidates, 181 are vying for the councillor posts.

Besides the fears of violence among the candidates, the coronavirus pandemic has become another factor in the voting as the government reimposed a nationwide ban on gatherings in the last days of the campaigning to control rising infections. The restrictions, however, were largely ignored in the city, an industrial hub.

The candidates brought allegations of influence against each other, but the campaigning ended without any major incidents. Returning Officer Mahfuza Akter said all necessary measures have been taken to ensure peaceful voting. 

Taimur Alam Khandaker, an independent candidate for Narayanganj city mayor, speaks at a press conference at his home in Masdair on Saturday, Jan 15, 2022, the eve of elections. Photo: Asif Mahmud Ove

The voters appeared to be eager to cast their votes. “The last time I went to vote at the [Morgan School Centre] with my husband. They didn’t even allow us in. The Ansar members said voting was closed and that everyone was off to lunch. The police then sent us away,” said Josna Begum, a housewife from Mission Para.

“This time the [campaigners] came to our homes and told me - ‘Aunty, you must come to vote. We’ll be there in case you face any difficulties’. I replied, ‘Your uncle is sick, but I will still go’.”

But some fear that they will “not be allowed to vote freely like the last election”. “Just let us cast our votes,” urged Hatem Ali, the owner of a small business.

A foreign-trained medical doctor, Ivy joined the city politics in 2003, riding on the popularity of her father Ali Ahmed Chunka, the first chairman of the Narayanganj municipality and immensely popular as a local Awami League leader.

A voter takes part in the mock e-voting exercise using an electronic voting machine at the Khanpur Govt Boys and Girls School polling centre in Narayanganj on Friday, Jan 14, 2022, two days before the mayoral election. Photo: Mahmud Zaman Ovi

She had served as the chairperson of the Narayanganj municipality for eight years before becoming the first elected woman mayor of Bangladesh five years ago.

Before her re-election in 2016, she became mayor by defeating AKM Shamim Osman, another leader of the party, in the first polls to Narayanganj City Corporation in 2011.

She hopes the people will pick her again because of her work for the city corporation in the past stints.  

But Taimur believes the voters will turn to him because of their “anger towards the past leaders of the corporation”.

The BNP removed him from its advisory council for defying party orders to boycott the elections. He said the decision would ultimately help him woo votes away from among the Awami League’s supporters.  

He called for the installation of CCTV cameras at polling stations to ensure a fair election. Returning Officer Mahfuza, however, rejected his demand saying that the cameras may infringe on voters’ privacy.

Law-enforcing agencies will crack down on anyone who attempts to exert undue influence at polling stations during the Narayanganj city elections, said Zaidul Alam, the district's superintendent of police. “No one will be allowed to occupy the polling booths."

More than 5,000 security personnel from the police, RAB, Ansar and BGB will be deployed on the voting day. Each ward will have one executive magistrate.

The entirety of the Narayanganj City Corporation area is awash in campaign posters on Thursday, Jan 13, 2022, ahead of the election. Photo: Mahmud Zaman Ovi

The voting will be held through electronic voting machines or EVMs exclusively for the first time.

Although the EVM voting in recently held Dhaka-10 parliamentary by-election failed to draw voters, the turnout in Narayanganj will be high, hopes the Election Commission.

“We're giving much priority to this election. We hope the atmosphere will be festive during voting and it'll be a fine election in the new year. We also expect a high turnout in the voting through EVM,” said Ashok Kumar Debnath, additional secretary at the commission.

Nazmul Ahsan Kalimullah, the chairman of National Election Observation Council, pointed out several factors to describe the significance of Narayanganj City Corporation elections.

“The national and international organisations have kept an eye on this election because the 12th parliamentary polls will be held within two years. And the election is taking place just before the end of the current Election Commission’s tenure. A new commission will be constituted. The effects of a failure or success to deliver free and fair polls in Narayanganj will be everywhere.”