Gazipur City polls

BNP to employ its full might

The BNP plans to engage all its might to ensure victory in the Gazipur City Corporation election, scheduled to be held on June 26, by taking a lesson from its past mistakes and the ruling party’s behaviour in the recently held Khulna civic polls, say party leaders.

The BNP, which accused the government of resorting to widespread irregularities and rigging in the Khulna civic polls, is also making all-out efforts to resist any repetition of the Khulna style of polling to ensure its victory, say the leaders.

They say the party high-command has asked the central and local leaders to sincerely work for the party candidate. It also asked them to get ready to face any adverse situation and stay in and around each polling centre.

The party further directed the leaders to return home only after completion of the polling and the counting of ballots. A central leader,

preferring anonymity, said the BNP would keep ready at least four standby polling agents for each polling booth so that it can deploy alternative agents if one of them is forced to leave the booth during the Gazipur civic polls.

There would be ward-level committees to carry out electoral campaigns and resist any possible attempts to rig the polls by capturing the polling centres, he said.

The party would also send central leaders to each polling centre from June 18 onwards. The leaders would remain there till the last day of the campaign.

As part of the preparation, BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir yesterday held a closed-door meeting at chairperson Khaleda Zia’s Gulshan office with party central leaders and local leaders, directing them to start the poll campaign from June 18.

Fakhrul, who returned home on Tuesday after holding a meeting with party acting chairman Tarique Rahman in London, asked the party leaders to patiently remain in the field and return home after ensuring the victory of their mayoral candidate.

When contacted, BNP standing committee member Dr Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, who is the chief BNP coordinator of the Gazipur polls, said they would make some changes in their strategy in the light of the experience they gathered from the Khulna polls.

He also said the popular sentiment was in favour of the BNP mayoral candidate before the civic polls got suspended by a High Court (HC) order. The party would work to revive the spirit to ensure victory of their candidate, Hasanuddin Sarker, he added.

The former minister accused the government of using the administration to hijack the BNP’s victory in Khulna. The Khulna civic polls were no election, he claimed.

“We are prepared for the Gazipur polls. If the government does not use the administration, we hope the BNP candidate to win the election with a huge margin of votes,” he said.

Regarding yesterday’s meeting, Fakhrul said the heads of the 57 ward-level committees had been given various directives including that of starting the poll campaign from June 18.

BNP joint secretary general Barkatullah Bulu said the BNP would contest the Gazipur polls by learning from its mistakes and the ruling party’s actions in the Khulna polls.

He also said the situations pertaining to the Khulna and Gazipur polls were not the same. People in Gazipur would resist any attempt to capture polling centres, he noted.

Another joint secretary general, Syed Moazzem Hossain Alal, said the central leaders would start going to Gazipur to take part in the poll campaign and would remain there till the end.

He also said the party leaders and activists had been asked to stay in the field at any cost and return home with the poll results after the completion of the counting of votes.

BNP organising secretary Fazlul Haque Milon said Gazipur should not be compared with Khulna, since people hailing from many districts comprised the city voters.

Besides, he said, party leaders and activists, with people’s support, were ready to resist any conspiracy by the ruling partymen.

Milon, who is also the convenor of the election monitoring committee in Gazipur, said the party secretary general had asked party leaders and activists to work together in the face of adverse situations to ensure the victory of the party candidate.

As many as 384 polling centres and 2,250 polling booths will be set up across the corporation area. On May 13, the Election Commission (EC)  fixed June 26 for holding the GCC polls as the Appellate Division asked the EC to hold the election by June 28.

The Appellate Division passed the order after hearing three separate appeal petitions filed by the EC and two mayoral candidates—Hasan Uddin Sarkar of BNP and Zahangir Alam of the Awami League.

Earlier, on May 6, the High Court had stayed the Gazipur civic election, which was scheduled to be held on May 15.

 

Gazipur City polls

BNP to employ its full might

The BNP plans to engage all its might to ensure victory in the Gazipur City Corporation election, scheduled to be held on June 26, by taking a lesson from its past mistakes and the ruling partys behaviour in the recently held Khulna civic polls, say party leaders. The BNP, which accused the government of resorting to widespread irregularities and rigging in the Khulna civic polls, is also making all-out efforts to resist any repetition of the Khulna style of polling to ensure its victory, say the leaders. They say the party high-command has asked the central and local leaders to sincerely work for the party candidate. It also asked them to get ready to face any adverse situation and stay in and around each polling centre. The party further directed the leaders to return home only after completion of the polling and the counting of ballots. A central leader, preferring anonymity, said the BNP would keep ready at least four standby polling agents for each polling booth so that it can deploy alternative agents if one of them is forced to leave the booth during the Gazipur civic polls. There would be ward-level committees to carry out electoral campaigns and resist any possible attempts to rig the polls by capturing the polling centres, he said. The party would also send central leaders to each polling centre from June 18 onwards. The leaders would remain there till the last day of the campaign. As part of the preparation, BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir yesterday held a closed-door meeting at chairperson Khaleda Zias Gulshan office with party central leaders and local leaders, directing them to start the poll campaign from June 18. Fakhrul, who returned home on Tuesday after holding a meeting with party acting chairman Tarique Rahman in London, asked the party leaders to patiently remain in the field and return home after ensuring the victory of their mayoral candidate. When contacted, BNP standing committee member Dr Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, who is the chief BNP coordinator of the Gazipur polls, said they would make some changes in their strategy in the light of the experience they gathered from the Khulna polls. He also said the popular sentiment was in favour of the BNP mayoral candidate before the civic polls got suspended by a High Court (HC) order. The party would work to revive the spirit to ensure victory of their candidate, Hasanuddin Sarker, he added. The former minister accused the government of using the administration to hijack the BNPs victory in Khulna. The Khulna civic polls were no election, he claimed. We are prepared for the Gazipur polls. If the government does not use the administration, we hope the BNP candidate to win the election with a huge margin of votes, he said. Regarding yesterdays meeting, Fakhrul said the heads of the 57 ward-level committees had been given various directives including that of starting the poll campaign from June 18. BNP joint secretary general Barkatullah Bulu said the BNP would contest the Gazipur polls by learning from its mistakes and the ruling partys actions in the Khulna polls. He also said the situations pertaining to the Khulna and Gazipur polls were not the same. People in Gazipur would resist any attempt to capture polling centres, he noted. Another joint secretary general, Syed Moazzem Hossain Alal, said the central leaders would start going to Gazipur to take part in the poll campaign and would remain there till the end. He also said the party leaders and activists had been asked to stay in the field at any cost and return home with the poll results after the completion of the counting of votes. BNP organising secretary Fazlul Haque Milon said Gazipur should not be compared with Khulna, since people hailing from many districts comprised the city voters. Besides, he said, party leaders and activists, with peoples support, were ready to resist any conspiracy by the ruling partymen. Milon, who is also the convenor of the election monitoring committee in Gazipur, said the party secretary general had asked party leaders and activists to work together in the face of adverse situations to ensure the victory of the party candidate. As many as 384 polling centres and 2,250 polling booths will be set up across the corporation area. On May 13, the Election Commission (EC) fixed June 26 for holding the GCC polls as the Appellate Division asked the EC to hold the election by June 28. The Appellate Division passed the order after hearing three separate appeal petitions filed by the EC and two mayoral candidatesHasan Uddin Sarkar of BNP and Zahangir Alam of the Awami League. Earlier, on May 6, the High Court had stayed the Gazipur civic election, which was scheduled to be held on May 15.