Almost all the candidates in the upcoming Barisal City Corporation (BCC) elections said the monsoon was not the appropriate time to hold local elections.
Candidates for the post of mayor and reserved seats for women said general councillor candidates have to cover limited areas within their ward. The candidates for the reserved seat have to cover three wards while mayoral candidates have to cover all 30 wards of the city, to campaign door-to-door election and speak with voters even in adverse weather.
They said they are facing problems with the campaign, not just due to insufficient time - three weeks - but also due to restrictions on processions, meetings and the use of loudspeakers imposed by the EC.
Meanwhile, two out of the three candidates for mayor are demanding immediate changes to the police administration, alleging the law enforcers are biased towards the ruling 14-party alliance’s candidate, Shawkat Hossain Hiron.
The two demanding the change are Ahsan Habib Kamal, district BNP president and 18-party alliance’s mayor candidate and Mahmudur Rahman Khan Mamun aka Khan Mamun, another mayoral candidate and joint convener of district Jubo League.
They each separately informed the returning officer that the Barisal Metropolitan Police administration including the commissioner, deputy commissioners, officers in charge of four police stations, were all appointed a few back and set up according to Shawkat Hossain Hiron’s choice.
Both Kamal and Mamun want the police officers to be replaced by unbiased officials selected by the EC to make the BCC election free and fair. Kamal said, “Everybody saw and knows the police administration is loyal to the political leaders of the ruling party candidate.”
Mujibur Rahman, returning officer for the polls said he has heard the allegations. “We duly informed the EC, but in local government elections the administration remains out of the EC’s jurisdiction.”
He said: “However, the EC is committed to carry out the BCC polls in a free and fair manner and we will do everything as per our jurisdiction for that.” Md Shamsuddin, Barisal Metropolitan Police Commissioner, denied any political bias on his part, he said the police would follow the directions given by higher authorities in this regard.
