All eyes on Gazipur polls

All eyes are fixed on the Gazipur City Corporation (GCC) elections, which are scheduled to be held tomorrow. Voting will start from 8am and continue till 4pm without any break. Both the ruling Awami League (AL) and its arch rival, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), are giving full attention to the city polls and deploying their full strength to battle it out as they think that the results would strongly impact the next parliamentary elections, to be held in the year-end.

As the GCC elections will be held under the party banner for the first time, voters of the city expect a keen contest between the ‘boat’ and the ‘sheaf of paddy’, the electoral symbols of the AL and BNP respectively. Stalwarts of both parties were seen in the city yesterday, carrying out last-moment election campaigns in favour of their respective candidates, as the deadline of the poll campaign for the civic polls ended yesterday (Sunday) midnight.

The recently elected Khulna city mayor, Talukder Abdul Khaleque, joined the poll campaign for AL candidate Jahangir Alam for the past three days along with AL leaders including Ahmed Hossain, barrister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury, Jahangir Kabir Nanak, Juba League president Omar Faruq, Wasim Kumar Ukil and others.

Central BNP leaders, including standing committee members Dr Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Mirza Abbas, Nazrul Islam Khan, Goyeshwar Chandra Roy, Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, vice-chairmen Md Shajahan and Shamsuzzaman Dudu and others took part in the poll campaign in favour of the party candidate Hasanuddin Sarker.

The candidate and leaders of the ruling party sought votes for the ‘boat’, the poll symbol of the AL, to build Gazipur as a modern, green and clean city and ensure the development of the city and its citizens.

The BNP candidate sought votes for the ‘sheaf of paddy’, the poll symbol of the party, as part of the party’s ongoing movement seeking restoration of democracy and the release of chairperson Khaleda Zia.  

Till now, the GCC election campaign has been relatively peaceful, with only a few isolated untoward incidents.

The ruling AL is confident about its party candidate’s victory in the GCC polls while the BNP says if the polls are held in a free fair and credible manner, its candidate will secure a landslide victory in the polls.

After the party candidate won the Khulna mayoral post, the AL leaders said they would apply the same policy they utilised in Khulna to Gazipur to ensure the victory of the party candidate.  On the other hand, the BNP leaders

rejected the KCC poll results, accusing the AL of “resorting to irregularities and rigging votes”, and said they would take necessary measures after drawing lessons from the KCC results.

Meanwhile, the BNP-nominated candidate Hasanuddin Sarker has frequently alleged that the local administration is working in favour of the ruling party and harassing BNP leaders and activists.

At a press conference yesterday (Sunday), the BNP mayoral candidate alleged that policemen of Khulna range were being deployed in a bid to conduct a ‘Khulna model election’ in Gazipur.

Talking to the media, the BNP candidate again expressed his optimism that if the elections are held even in the least fair manner, he would win the polls to the GCC by a respectable margin.

On the other hand, the ruling AL’s stalwarts yesterday carried out an election campaign in favour of their party-nominated candidate Jahangir Alam, in violation of the electoral code of conduct.

A total of 11,37,736 voters are expected to cast their ballots in the upcoming polls to elect 57 general ward councillors and 19 reserved women’s seats. Among them, 5,69,935 are male and 5,67,801 female voters. The Election Commission (EC) has already identified 337 out of total 425 polling stations as vulnerable. A total of seven candidates for mayor, 254 for general councillor and 84 candidates from reserved women councillors are in the fray for the GCC polls.

The mayoral candidates are: Gazipur AL general secretary Advocate Jahangir Alam, BNP-nominated Hasanuddin Sarker, Md Ruhul Amin from the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), Md Jalal Uddin from Bangladesh Islami Front (BIF), Fazlul Haque Minar from Islami Oikkya Jote (IOJ), Md Nasir Uddin of Islami Andolan Bangladesh (IAB) and Independent candidate Farid Ahmed.

In the last Gazipur city polls, held on July 6, 2013, Gazipur city unit AL president Azmat Ullah Khan was the AL candidate, who was defeated by BNP candidate MA Mannan, while Jahangir Alam had contested the polls as a rebel candidate.

Earlier, the GCC polls were scheduled to be held on May 15, but the High Court stayed it. Later, the Appellate Division reviewed the High Court order and asked the EC to hold the elections within June 28. BGB platoons

A total of 29 platoons of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) troopers have been deployed in Gazipur city ahead of the city corporation elections on Tuesday. The force will remain on the ground till June 27. The border guards were deployed at different parts of the city yesterday morning to preclude any untoward incident, Dr Dewan Mohammad Humayun Kabir, deputy commissioner of the district, told this correspondent.

All eyes on Gazipur polls

All eyes are fixed on the Gazipur City Corporation (GCC) elections, which are scheduled to be held tomorrow. Voting will start from 8am and continue till 4pm without any break. Both the ruling Awami League (AL) and its arch rival, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), are giving full attention to the city polls and deploying their full strength to battle it out as they think that the results would strongly impact the next parliamentary elections, to be held in the year-end. As the GCC elections will be held under the party banner for the first time, voters of the city expect a keen contest between the boat and the sheaf of paddy, the electoral symbols of the AL and BNP respectively. Stalwarts of both parties were seen in the city yesterday, carrying out last-moment election campaigns in favour of their respective candidates, as the deadline of the poll campaign for the civic polls ended yesterday (Sunday) midnight. The recently elected Khulna city mayor, Talukder Abdul Khaleque, joined the poll campaign for AL candidate Jahangir Alam for the past three days along with AL leaders including Ahmed Hossain, barrister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury, Jahangir Kabir Nanak, Juba League president Omar Faruq, Wasim Kumar Ukil and others. Central BNP leaders, including standing committee members Dr Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Mirza Abbas, Nazrul Islam Khan, Goyeshwar Chandra Roy, Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, vice-chairmen Md Shajahan and Shamsuzzaman Dudu and others took part in the poll campaign in favour of the party candidate Hasanuddin Sarker. The candidate and leaders of the ruling party sought votes for the boat, the poll symbol of the AL, to build Gazipur as a modern, green and clean city and ensure the development of the city and its citizens. The BNP candidate sought votes for the sheaf of paddy, the poll symbol of the party, as part of the partys ongoing movement seeking restoration of democracy and the release of chairperson Khaleda Zia. Till now, the GCC election campaign has been relatively peaceful, with only a few isolated untoward incidents. The ruling AL is confident about its party candidates victory in the GCC polls while the BNP says if the polls are held in a free fair and credible manner, its candidate will secure a landslide victory in the polls. After the party candidate won the Khulna mayoral post, the AL leaders said they would apply the same policy they utilised in Khulna to Gazipur to ensure the victory of the party candidate. On the other hand, the BNP leaders rejected the KCC poll results, accusing the AL of resorting to irregularities and rigging votes, and said they would take necessary measures after drawing lessons from the KCC results. Meanwhile, the BNP-nominated candidate Hasanuddin Sarker has frequently alleged that the local administration is working in favour of the ruling party and harassing BNP leaders and activists. At a press conference yesterday (Sunday), the BNP mayoral candidate alleged that policemen of Khulna range were being deployed in a bid to conduct a Khulna model election in Gazipur. Talking to the media, the BNP candidate again expressed his optimism that if the elections are held even in the least fair manner, he would win the polls to the GCC by a respectable margin. On the other hand, the ruling ALs stalwarts yesterday carried out an election campaign in favour of their party-nominated candidate Jahangir Alam, in violation of the electoral code of conduct. A total of 11,37,736 voters are expected to cast their ballots in the upcoming polls to elect 57 general ward councillors and 19 reserved womens seats. Among them, 5,69,935 are male and 5,67,801 female voters. The Election Commission (EC) has already identified 337 out of total 425 polling stations as vulnerable. A total of seven candidates for mayor, 254 for general councillor and 84 candidates from reserved women councillors are in the fray for the GCC polls. The mayoral candidates are: Gazipur AL general secretary Advocate Jahangir Alam, BNP-nominated Hasanuddin Sarker, Md Ruhul Amin from the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), Md Jalal Uddin from Bangladesh Islami Front (BIF), Fazlul Haque Minar from Islami Oikkya Jote (IOJ), Md Nasir Uddin of Islami Andolan Bangladesh (IAB) and Independent candidate Farid Ahmed. In the last Gazipur city polls, held on July 6, 2013, Gazipur city unit AL president Azmat Ullah Khan was the AL candidate, who was defeated by BNP candidate MA Mannan, while Jahangir Alam had contested the polls as a rebel candidate. Earlier, the GCC polls were scheduled to be held on May 15, but the High Court stayed it. Later, the Appellate Division reviewed the High Court order and asked the EC to hold the elections within June 28. BGB platoons A total of 29 platoons of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) troopers have been deployed in Gazipur city ahead of the city corporation elections on Tuesday. The force will remain on the ground till June 27. The border guards were deployed at different parts of the city yesterday morning to preclude any untoward incident, Dr Dewan Mohammad Humayun Kabir, deputy commissioner of the district, told this correspondent.