The soon-to-be-held elections to the five city corporations ahead of the national elections are thought to be an acid test both for the ruling Awami League and opposition BNP.
The two arch rivals will assess their support at least in the not-so-big cities that hugely mould the public opinions in the grassroots as the leaders of the two major parties will be the leading contenders.
The local government experts said the city corporation polls will reflect the popularity of the political parties, though not on a broad canvas.
The favourite candidates hold top posts either in the Awami League or the BNP though the city corporation polls are viewed as no-partisan elections.
Former mayor of Sylhet City Corporation Badaruddin Ahmed Kamran is the city AL president, former mayor of Rajshahi City Corporation AHM Khayruzzaman Liton is general secretary of Rajshahi unit of the AL, former mayor of Khulna City Corporation Talukder Abdul Khaleque is the president of Khulna city AL and former mayor of Barishal City Corporation Shawkat Hossain Hrion is president of city unit AL.
The big four cities are bracing for elections just before the next general elections scheduled to be held on January 2014.
Elections to four city corporations – Rajshahi, Khulna, Barisal and Sylhet – will be held on June 15 while the Gazipur City Corporation polls on July 6.
Tofayel Ahmed, local government expert, said the local government election is a sort of barometer of judging the popularity of the political parties.
With the city corporation elections nearing the country will be clearly polarized into two major political camps: he said. “We noticed it in the Narayanganj, Comilla and Rangpur city corporation elections.”
Suranjit Sengupta, member of advisory councils of the Awami league, said city corporation elections is very important to the political parties as the popularity of political parties can be assessed in the elections.
Though it is a local level election, the fact is that elections are mainly held between the major political parties, he noted.
“City corporation elections will give an indication of behind who people are throwing their weight,” Suranjit, also a minister without portfolio, told the Dhaka Tribune on Friday.
MK Anwar, a standing committee member of the BNP, said this election will give a certain message to the masses of the country as candidates contest the elections under different political parties’ banner,” he said dodging a question on whether the election is an acid test for the party.
Badiul Alam Majumder, secretary of Sujan, said local government election is not the true indicator of the political parties’ popularity but it exerts an impact on the national elections.
“In local government polls context and purpose are different than in national polls as the latter determines who to run the country for the next five years while the first one choose people to run the city,” he said.
But then again, the city corporation elections have an effect on the national polls, he observed.
Fazlul Haque Milon, organising secretary of the BNP, said the city corporation election is an acid test for the Awami League not ‘that much’ for the BNP.
“If elections are held in a free and fair manner it will be a disaster for the Awami League. We demanded deployment of army in the city corporation polls. We are suspecting that the government is planning administrative coup to snatch away the polls result,” Milon, a former MP, said.
Ahmed Hossain, organising secretary of the Awami League, said the government decided to hold the local government election to uphold the constitution and it is not possible to judge the popularity of the party through local elections.