Satkania area of Chittagong is considered as one of the strongholds of Bangladesh Jamat-e-Islami. However, this time Jamaat did not give any mayoral candidate for the forthcoming municipal polls slated for December 30.
Cashing in on the opportunity, the ruling party Awami League is desperately trying to break into the Jamaat stronghold through defeating BNP-nominated mayoral candidate.
The voters, however, expect a neck-and-neck battle between the ruling party and the BNP in Satkania municipality as many of them believe that the Jamaat men would naturally cast their votes for the BNP-nominated mayoral candidate.
This time, a total of three mayor aspirants – Rafiqul Alam from BNP, Mohammad Jobaer from Awami League and Yusuf Chowdhury from Jatiya Party (Ershad) are vying for the upcoming municipal polls where as many as 32,970 people will exercise their franchise in 12 centres under Satkania municipality. All the three mayoral candidates are passing busy time at voters’ door to door seeking votes.
The aspirants are also distributing leaflets, holding rallies and campaigning through loudspeakers in a bid to demonstrate their strength.
While talking to the Dhaka Tribune, both candidates from the AL and BNP expressed their optimism that they would be able to break into the stronghold of Jamat-e-Islami.
“We are confident that Bangladesh Nationalist Party will win in the municipal polls if they are held in a free, fair and credible manner,” said BNP-backed mayoral candidate Rafiqul Alam.
“The ruling party men are intimidating my supporters. A sense of fear is prevailing among the voters in the municipality. The voters are asking me if they could exercise their rights to franchise without fear,” added Alam.
“Though Satkania is known as a stronghold of Jamaat, the voters in Satkania municipality will cast their vote for the development. I hope people will turn down the reactionary forces like Jamat-BNP and vote for ‘boat’ in the upcoming polls,” said AL-nominated mayoral candidate Mohammad Jobaer.
This time a total of 449 mayor and councillor aspirants are vying the municipal polls where 34 are mayoral, 77 are in reserved seats for women and 338 are general councillor candidates.
The 10 municipalities where the polls are going to be held are Sandwip, Banshkhali, Chandanaish, Satkania, Mirsarai, Patiya, Raozan, Rangunia, Baryarhat and Sitakunda.