For the first time since 2012, the Awami League has nominated someone outside the family of local politician Principal Afzal Khan for the mayoral race of the Comilla City Corporation (COCC).
The ruling party picked Arfanul Haque Rifat, considering his contributions to the party. It believes that he can put a break on the winning streak of BNP-backed two-time mayor Monirul Haque Sakku.
Rifat, well-known as a strong hand of ruling party lawmaker AKM Baharuddin Bahar, has been holding the post of general secretary of the Comilla city unit Awami League since 2017.
He joined the Chhatra League in 1976 and became president of its Comilla city unit after two years. He later held posts in the Jubo League.
Rifat’s nomination was confirmed at a meeting with party President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair on May 13.
Following the decision, a section of the local Awami League expressed resentment, saying Rifat had long been criticized within the party for his involvement with drug cartels and arms smugglers, and accused him of using muscle power to obtain government tenders and illegally extracting sand and soil from the Gumti River. They blamed lawmaker Bahar for patronizing Rifat.
At the time, two national dailies published stories on Rifat, citing a so-called intelligence report of the Prime Minister's Office in 2018 that listed him as the number one patron of drug smugglers in the district.
Rifat sent a statement to one newspaper the same day, asking the authorities to apologize for publishing a “false report”.
On May 17, he lodged a defamation suit against five persons, including the publisher and two reporters of the newspaper, seeking compensation amounting to Tk10 crore.
“Rifat is a tested politician. He has struggled a lot on the streets. I think the report [by an intelligence agency] was motivated…due to local politics,” said AL Organizing Secretary of Chittagong division Abu Sayeed Al Mahmood Swapon.
The report was prepared by a government agency, not the Prime Minister’s Office, he told Dhaka Tribune.
“Later, several government agencies conducted in-depth investigations based on this preliminary report, but they didn’t find any allegations against Rifat,” said Swapon, who is a lawmaker.
Talking to Dhaka Tribune, Rifat claimed that he knew nothing about his name being on the list of top drug smugglers and dealers in Comilla. “I don’t know anything about this list…didn’t see it either,” he said.
“My leader and the party nominated me after considering my contributions. I believe the voters of Comilla will elect me,” said Rifat.
After scrutiny, the Election Commission approved the nomination papers of Rifat and five other mayoral candidates for the June 15 polls, to be held by using Electronic Voting Machines (EVM).
The mayoral aspirants
Both Sakku and independent mayoral candidate and Comilla city Sewchchasebak Dal President Nizam Uddin Kaiser resigned from the party on May 19. Kaiser, a local businessman facing eight cases, was also assistant organizing secretary of the party’s executive committee.
In 2012, Sakku contested as an independent candidate and defeated Principal Afzal Khan by over 35,000 votes. He again won in 2017 against Khan’s daughter Anjum Sultana Sima by a margin of around 11,000 votes.
Sima later became a lawmaker from a reserved seat and did not get the nomination despite expressing the view that she would resign from parliament if chosen for the mayoral race.
However, her brother -- Masud Parvez Imran -- is contesting the polls as an Awami League rebel candidate. He is a contractor and has two cases filed against him at different times.
According to the election documents, Rifat is a contractor by profession. He has no cases against him.
Civil society representative Kamrul Ahsan Babul is a businessman. Two cases filed against him are under trial. The other candidate is college teacher Rashedul Islam, backed by Islami Andolan Bangladesh.
