Ruling Awami League and the main opposition in parliament Jatiya Party have started preparations for Dhaka mayoral races even before the announcement of the election schedule.
Dhaka city polls were last held over a decade ago. The capital has since been divided into two city corporations – North and South. Chittagong’s election was last held in 2010.
Awami League’s former organising secretary Mahmudur Rahman Manna, who fell out with the party in 2009, may contest the polls, however. An advisor to his civic platform Nagorik Oikya (Citizens’ Unity), SM Akram told media outlets yesterday that he believed although in jail, Manna would run.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, on February 16, directed the Local Government and Rural Development (LGRD) Ministry to prepare for the polls.
The directive came when violence in blockade and strikes — enforced by the Awami League’s main political opposition BNP-led alliance — seemed to be headed for the worse, with scores dead and hundreds maimed. Most of those killed were victims of petrol-bomb arson on crowded buses and goods-laden trucks.
Within days, Hasina, also the Awami League President, endorsed mayoral candidates on behalf of her party.
Annisul Huq, a former president of the apex business body FBCCI and the garment exporters association BGMEA, a media personality, will run for mayor of Dhaka North. Sayeed Khokon, son of Dhaka’s first elected mayor late Mohammad Hanif, will run in Dhaka South.
Apart from them, two other Dhaka-based Awami League leaders — incumbent lawmakers Kamal Ahmed Majumder from Mirpur and Haji Mohammad Selim from Lalbagh — are also visibly intent to run in the Dhaka city polls.
Both have recently put up giant billboards on the streets of Dhaka although neither have begun to campaign for votes directly. However, the billboards have them committing to a clean and developed Dhaka.
On the other hand, some television stations have aired what is clearly publicity commercial of Annisul Huq.
According to the election rules, candidates are barred from campaigning until the election schedules are announced.
The Election Commission has called a meeting of relevant officials and government agencies today to decide on a likely date. Announcement of an election schedule is expected to follow soon afterwards.
“I have got fantastic support from my colleagues. My supporters are bringing out small processions every day in my constituency to drum up support. The campaign will gain momentum once the schedules are announced,” Sayeed Kokhon told the Dhaka Tribune.
The other Awami League backed contestant, Annisul Huq, was more reserved. “I am new to politics. And I have not yet launched a full-fledged campaign. So, I cannot say what people are thinking. But I am making full preparations.”
On Sunday, Ershad’s Jatiya Party announced it would back Bahauddin Ahmed Babul for North and Saifuddin Ahmed Milon for South in Dhaka.
According to the laws, local government elections, whether at the unions or the city corporations, must be “non-political,” meaning that the political parties cannot participate in the polls, nor is there any requirement for nominations.
No other political party, including the BNP or its allies, has shown any intent to participate, although in recent weeks the Election Commission has stepped up its initiatives for holding the elections.
Party insiders said the BNP is not thinking about contesting the polls now because it does not want to compromise the tempo of its ongoing anti-government campaign, which calls for the Awami League to step down leading to national elections.
Seeking anonymity, a BNP leader said the government plans to hold the polls to divert people’s attention from the opposition’s movement.
Dhaka’s last elected mayor was senior BNP leader Sadeque Hossain Khoka, who overstayed his tenure — 2002 to 2011 — by four years before the city corporation was split into two.
The Dhaka city elections could not be held because of various legal complications arising out of demarcation of the two city corporations.
Although the main political opposition has dismissed the idea of contesting the polls, the party has happy memories of 2013 when BNP endorsed mayoral candidates swept city polls in Rajshahi, Khulna, Barisal, Sylhet and Gazipur.
The EC on Tuesday sent a letter to all the ministries seeking lists of presiding officers, assistant presiding officers and polling officers along with first, second and third grade government officials and employees.
The Dhaka Tribune has obtained a copy of that letter, which states that the EC requires the list by March 16 so that it can prepare panels of election officers.
EC Secretary Md Sirajul Islam told reporters on Tuesday that preparations, including a revision to the voter list, are going on in full swing.
Seeking anonymity, a deputy secretary of the Finance Ministry told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday that the EC has recently sought Tk45 crore for conducting the Dhaka city polls.
