The results of the recently held Gazipur City Corporation (GCC) election apparently are working as confidence boosters for the leaders and activists of both the Awami League and the BNP.
Even though the BNP candidate lost the Gazipur mayoral race, the party is seeing the outcome as a blessing, saying now the people know how the ruling party rigged votes just like the Khulna city polls and secured their victory riding the waves of irregularities.
Meanwhile, the Awami League is ecstatic over their win. The party has a strong base, as it believes, will increase the confidence of their grassroots-level leaders and activists, and in turn help them connect with the people easily ahead of the 11th national polls.
Jahangir Alam, the ruling Awami League’s candidate, won the Gazipur city polls on June 26 to become the new mayor of the city, beating his rival BNP aspirant Hasan Uddin Sarker by a huge margin.
Speaking to the Dhaka Tribune, several senior and central Awami League leaders said the party had taken this election seriously, considering the how ruling party candidate lost to the BNP mayoral runner in the last GCC election.
That defeat and losing in four other city polls had severely demoralized the party men, they said, but added that this latest win, six months before the general election was very crucial for the party.
“Because of this win in Gazipur, our leaders and activists across the country will believe again that people are still with Awami League and they want development work to continue. This will also encourage our activists to favourably reach out to the grassroots-level voters,” said Awami League Presidium Member Pijush Kanti Bhattacharya.
The ruling party also thinks that the defeat in Gazipur will destroy BNP’s confidence as they will understand now that the general people are no longer with them.
“People have rejected the BNP in Khulna and Gazipur, and they will do so again in the next local and national elections,” they said.
Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader also told reporters that the party was happy with the Gazipur city polls outcome. “We will win all the upcoming elections too, including the 11th national polls.”
‘People now know the truth’
Meanwhile, BNP’s Standing Committee Member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury said the Gazipur city polls will not affect their grassroots-level activists and supporters even though the party lost.
“People and our grassroots-level activists have witnessed how the ruling party rigged the votes. The BNP is considering this defeat a success rather than failure as the ruling party ensured their victory using force.”
Explaining their silence, he said they did not protest the vote rigging and massive irregularities during the Gazipur election any further in order to maintain peace and public safety.
“The truth shall make people put their trust in us again and encourage them to stand up for the BNP and what’s right,” Amir Khasru added.
He said the real scenario during the upcoming city corporation elections will also enable the BNP to win the people’s sympathy and further improve their ability to reach the people at grassroots-level.
What’s next?
The outcomes of the city corporation elections, generally held ahead of the national elections, always give an idea about the level of popularity of each of the political parties.
Despite some stray incidents, people in Gazipur apparently experienced a fair election where they freely exercised their franchises without any incidents of major violence, murder or clashes between the Awami League and BNP – the two main rival parties in Bangladesh’s politics – which used to be a common scene.
Alleged vote rigging, occupying polling centres and other irregularities during all previous elections had led to violent clashes numerous times between the two parties and even resulted to multiple casualties.
According to media reports, 21 people had died in polls-related violence and police action in 13 districts on the day of the 2014 general election.
While irregularities allegedly took place during voting in Gazipur, it was not marred with violence, which some analysts called a win for the authorities and locals a “perfect election.”
Although the BNP had alleged of large-scale rigging and massive irregularities, including forceful expulsion of their agents from the polling centres, the Election Commission suspended voting in nine of the 425 centres over various reasons.
The commission’s immediate action somewhat restored the people’s faith in it, after a number of incidents during the Khulna city polls had questioned the efficiency of the commission and the law enforcement agencies.
The commission also expressed its satisfaction in organizing such free and fair elections.
Regarding BNP’s allegations, Awami League leaders said the BNP candidate was elected mayor of Gazipur city in the 2014 election that was held under the incumbent government.
Since they won that one and several others later, BNP had no complaints; but the bag of complaints opened when they started losing in the recent city corporation polls, said the ruling party leaders.
