Hanif: No impact of RpCC results on national elections

The results of Rangpur City Corporation (RpCC) elections will have no impact on the upcoming national elections, Awami League Joint General Secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif has said. Speaking at an event in Kushtia on Friday morning, the senior Awami League leader claimed that the election was a victory for democracy, even though the ruling party-backed candidate had lost the election.

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“In a local election, personal popularity and regionalism play a role,” he argued. In the national election on the other hand, voters would take the performance of the entire political party into account, Hanif said. "Free and fair election under the Election Commission has disproved allegations of vote-rigging by Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)," he further added.

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Criticizing BNP, he said enforced disappearances started during Ziaur Rahman's rule in 1975, and the practice was continued by BNP. Hanif was attending the harvest ceremony of the Kushtia Sugar Mill. He claimed that many sugar mills were closed during BNP's rule.

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“The BNP government stole crores of taka by selling the mills to private owners and destroying the lives of many workers at that time,” he said. Kushtia Sugar Mill is set to produce 3850 metric tons of sugar from 55,000 metric tons of sugarcane this season.

Muhith: RpCC polls defeat won’t affect national polls

Finance Minister AMA Muhith on Friday said the defeat of Awami League nominated mayoral aspirant in the Rangpur City Corporation polls will not affect the upcoming national elections, reports UNB. The minister came up with the remark while talking to journalists after inaugurating the two-day long Insurance Fair in Dhaka. Mentioning that neutrality was maintained in the recent elections, Muhith said candidates from different parties win polls in the multi-party democratic system and it's the characteristics of the multi-party democracy.