Sushashoner Janney Nagorik (SHUJAN) – Citizens for Good Governance – has claimed the local government is constantly under the control of businessmen.
The observation came at a press conference entitled “Who won in the four city polls and who are competing in the Gazipur city poll” held Saturday in the VIP lounge of the Dhaka press club.
At the press briefing, and analysis of the information on candidates who participated in the four city polls, and who are going to participate in the Gazipur City Corporation (GCC) election, was presented. This information was gathered from the candidates’ submitted affidavits.
Shujan general secretary Badiul Alam Majumdar read out a written speech at the programme.
According Badiul, the four mayors and 84% of the elected councillors are businessmen. In the Pourashava election of 2001, 80% of the elected councillors and the mayors were businessmen.
Speaking about the candidates’ educational qualifications, Baidul said 51% of the councilors have a Secondary School Certificate (SCC) or a lower qualification. The female councilors have an even lower education rate.
On the other hand, four of the seven mayoral candidates in the GCC poll are highly educated, but the educational qualifications of the 46% councillor candidates are SSC or lower. In the reserved seats, most of the female candidates are SSC or lower
Five of the seven mayoral candidates of the GCC poll and 70% of the councillor candidates are businessmen.
Among the others present in the press conference were columnist and researcher, Syed Abul Maksud and Gonosastho Kendro founder, Zafrullah Chowdhury.
Syed Abul Maksud said the information was presented only in the interest of democracy. He said there might be something wrong with candidates who were reluctant about disclosing their information.
Zafrullah Chowdhury said the participation of more businessmen in the polls was nothing but a failure on the part of the Election Commission.
