The formal campaign for the 12th parliamentary election by the Awami League is set to get underway in Sylhet, with party President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina addressing a public rally at the Sylhet Govt Alia Madrasa ground today.
Following this inaugural event, Sheikh Hasina will extend her presence to various divisions and districts, addressing election rallies for the Awami League.
Ahead of the PM’s visit, a four-tier security measure has been taken in Sylhet, district AL General Secretary Nasir Uddin Khan told Dhaka Tribune.
According to the party and PMO sources, PM Hasina will arrive in Sylhet today and then offer ziarat at Hazrat Shahjalal’s mazar followed by ziarat at Hazrat Shah Paran’s mazar.
In the afternoon, she is scheduled to speak at the public rally.
Party Presidium Member Jahangir Kabir Nanak and other central leaders visited the rally venue at noon yesterday. Sylhet City Corporation Mayor Anwaruzzaman Chowdhury and leaders of the district and metropolitan Awami League were also present.
Leaders said they were following the electoral code while preparing for the rally.
Saiful Islam, deputy commissioner of metropolitan police (Media), told Dhaka Tribune that plain clothed police men will also be deployed in the city during the PM’s visit. There will be special surveillance as well, he added.
Meanwhile, local leaders and activists of the AL yesterday officially launched the polls campaign for party chief Sheikh Hasina for the Gopalganj-3 constituency.
They brought out a procession in Kotalipara in the morning, led by former senior secretary Md Shahid Ullah Khandker, representative of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in her polls campaign. He was accompanied by Kotalipara Upazila Chairman Bimol Krishna Biswas, President of upazila AL Bhabendranath Biswas, among others.
Regarding the campaigning, upazila AL General Secretary Ainal Hossain Sheikh said the party president is never required to canvas herself in the constituency as it is her own locality. Local leaders of the party conduct the campaigning for her. This time the campaigning will continue till January 5, he added.
Notably, the dates for nine election public rallies across eight districts in five divisions have been officially announced.
Following the Sylhet visit, at 3pm tomorrow, Sheikh Hasina will address a virtual public meeting in Panchagarh and Lalmonirhat of Rangpur division, Natore and Pabna of Rajshahi division, and Khagrachhari of Chittagong division.
On December 29, Sheikh Hasina is scheduled to lead an election rally at the Barisal district headquarters.
Subsequently, on December 30, she will speak at election rallies in Gopalganj, including her constituency (Tungipara and Kotalipara), and Madaripur-3.
Our correspondents Md Serajul Islam from Sylhet and Monoj Kumar Saha from Gopalganj contributed to the report
