Supporters of BNP leader Ishraque Hossain have gathered for the third consecutive day in front of the Nagar Bhaban (City Hall), demanding that he be handed over the responsibilities of the Mayor of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC).
On Saturday, they announced a long march towards the Secretariat from the protest site.
Tawfiq Ahmed, a resident of Sutrapur in DSCC and a participant in the protest, said: “The government is stalling over Ishraque’s oath-taking. Even after the court declared Ishraque Hossain as the rightful mayor, this behavior from the government is unexpected.”
He further said: “We are here today to begin a long march towards the Secretariat. If the government does not arrange Ishraque Hossain’s oath-taking soon, we will blockade the Secretariat.”
Shihab Uddin, a resident of Bangshal in the South City, said: “Ishraque Hossain is the people’s mayor. During the autocratic regime, the people's mandate was hijacked and someone else was installed as mayor. Now that the court has declared Ishraque the mayor, the government is still not facilitating the swearing-in process. This discrimination seems to be because he is a BNP leader.”
Meanwhile, since morning, people from different areas of Dhaka have been arriving at Nagar Bhaban in processions. As the crowd grew, traffic in front of the building was halted around 11am. Due to the gathering, the main gate of Nagar Bhaban remained closed.
Earlier, on Friday, a press release announced a protest march from Nagar Bhaban to the Secretariat, demanding that Engineer Ishraque Hossain be officially handed over the mayoral responsibilities.
This program is part of a series of actions by ordinary voters of Dhaka city.
The DSCC election was held on February 1, 2020. BNP’s Ishraque Hossain lost to Awami League’s Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh by a margin of nearly 200,000 votes.
On March 27 this year, the result declaring Taposh as the winner of the 2020 election was cancelled, and BNP leader Ishraque was declared mayor by the election tribunal. After receiving a copy of the tribunal’s verdict, the Election Commission sought legal advice from the Ministry of Law on April 22 regarding the publication of the gazette.
