Around 51 percent of the individuals contesting for the post of chairman in the second phase of the upazila parishad polls do not have a university degree, while many others have been accused in murder cases. None have a clear police record.
Even with such a poor educational background, most of these candidates have a very strong financial condition, where only 38.96 percent have been paying taxes regularly.
Information on 521 aspiring chairman candidates were disclosed at a press briefing, titled ‘Revealing information about the candidates for chairman post of 2nd phase of upazila polls,’ organized by Shujan (ShushanarJanniya Nagorik), at Dhaka Reporters Unity yesterday.
The press conference also noted around 70 candidates do not even have a Secondary School Certificate (SSC) degree. Of the rest, 91 candidates have studied up to SSC, 97 candidates have studied up to HSC, while 151 candidates said they have an undergraduate degree and 97 have a postgraduate degree.
Apart from that, 124 candidates were accused in different cases, while 16 were accused in murder cases.
Around 74 candidates are multi-millionaires, while 14 of them are the owners of assets worth more than Tk5 crore. Around 373 candidates earn around Tk5 lakh or less per year, while six aspirants earn around Tk1 crore per year.
As far as professions are concerned, 289 aspirants have mentioned “business” as profession, while 106 said they were involved with agriculture. However, 61 candidates did not mentioned their education, profession, or their annual income status.
“It has been alleged that opposition party backed candidates were being harassed by police, and also threatened and ousted from the area in some upazilas. We hope election commission will investigate the matter to hold a free, fair and acceptable election,” ShujanSecretary Professor Badiul Alam Majumder said.
“Many candidates, who have significant achievements in the past, were rejected from the list due to biased nominations. This is a violation of electoral code of conduct,” ShujanCentral Coordinator Dilip Kumar Sarker said.
“According to the electoral law, the local election should be a non-partisan election. But, political party supporters are forcing candidates to cancel their nomination and rival candidates were supressed in many cases.”
Speakers at the press conference also requested the election commission to take initiatives to present the candidates information through leaflets, so that the voters can cast their votes after knowing the candidates better.
The second phase of the upazila polls is set to begin on February 27 in 116 upazilas and election in Moheshkhali upazila of Cox’s Bazar district will be held in March 01. Around 532 aspirants would be contesting for chairman posts.