The Joydebpur rail junction has long been a hub for intercity and local trains in Gazipur. Yesterday afternoon, just before the
Gazipur City Corporation election, there was little in the way of enthusiasm about the vote on the platforms.
There was a similar lack of election hype at most important squares and public spaces in Gazipur city.
Ali Asif Shawon/Dhaka TribuneAmid this scenario, Gazipur, the largest city corporation in Bangladesh, will observe its third election, which will see eight mayoral candidates, including the mother of the previous mayor Jahangir Alam.
Some 325 councillor candidates are contesting for 57 ward councillor, and 19 reserved councillor posts.
From 8am to 4pm, some 1,179,000 voters are to practice their voting power in 480 polling centres.
Electronic voting machines (EVMs) will be used in this election and more than 5,000 EVMs have already been installed.
To resolve any technical faults with the EVMs, two technical experts will be available at every polling centre.
CCTV cameras have been installed in every polling centre and poll booth for surveillance.
Who are the mayoral candidates?
Although there are eight mayoral candidates in the race, voters said the main contest will be between three candidates -- Awami League's Azmat Ullah Khan, and independent candidates Jayeda Khatun and Sarker Sahnur Islam Roni.
Jayeda Khatun is the mother of Jahangir Alam, who was recently expelled from the Awami League for life for defying the party decision.
Earlier, she contacted several foreign embassies, asking them to order the Election Commission to deploy troops to ensure credible polls.
Sarker Sahnur Islam is contesting as an independent candidate but has ties to the BNP. Earlier, the BNP expelled 29 councillor candidates for the same offence.
Azmat Ullah is contesting the polls with the ruling party's boat symbol, Jayeda Khatun with the table watch, and Sarker Shahnur with the elephant.
Apart from these, Jatiya Party candidate MM Niaz Uddin, Islami Andolan Bangladesh candidate Gazi Ataur Rahman, Zaker Party candidate Raju Ahmed, and Gana Front candidate Atiqul Islam are contesting with their own party symbols.
Mayoral race equation
After talking with several candidates in the polls, this correspondent learned that the three main mayoral candidates all have strong positions.
Azmat Ullah, a senior leader of the Awami League, is contesting the mayoral race for the second time. He ran for mayor in 2013, the first city corporation election in Gazipur, and bagged more than 100,000 votes but failed to win. This time he got the mayor's nomination from the ruling party again, and Awami League leaders and activists thought that his clean image and party blessing were the strong points for Azmat Ullah.
Jayeda Khatun was originally not in contention, but the 70-year-old entered the race when her son Jahangir Alam learned that he would not get the party ticket. Jayeda Khatun's strengths are in her son's development work when he was mayor.
Sarker Sahnur Islam was born to a very famous BNP family in Gazipur. His uncle Hasan Uddin Sarker, a central BNP leader, contested the mayoral race in the 2018 polls for the BNP. Sahnur Islam's father was the former Chairman of Gazipur Sadar Upazila and also was the president Gazipur District Jubo Dal, a youth wing of the BNP.
Although Sahnur Islam does not hold any party post of the BNP, he is being treated as the BNP mayoral candidate in the GCC polls by locals.
The previous vote-casting ratio of the GCC polls hints that the election is going to be a tough battle for the mayoral candidates.
While visiting Gazipur yesterday afternoon, Election Commissionaire Rashida Sultana urged voters to go to the vote centres in a peaceful manner.
“We want a free, fair, and peaceful election with the presence of voters in the polling centres. We want a peaceful poll, this is our message,” said Rashida Sultana.
The GCC poll will be observed through the CCTV cameras from the EC head office.
“If we find any problem, we will stop the poll in those centres,” she said.
Among the 480 polling centres, 351 centres are important polling centres for the EC. To hold a peaceful election, 57 executive magistrates will be deployed in 57 wards.
In addition, 30 teams of RAB, 13 platoons of BGB, 19 striking teams, and 57 mobile teams of police will be deployed in the GCC area today.
