The Awami League leadership in Bogra is confident that the nominated mayoral aspirants will defeat the party’s rebels and other candidates in Dhunot and Sarikandi municipality polls slated for December 30.
The rebel candidates have alleged that the district unit leaders ignored grassroots’ opinion in choosing the mayoral candidates. Election observers say the conflict between the ruling party candidates will only benefit the BNP-backed candidates.
The party has nominated Shariful Islam Khan, organising secretary of the upazila unit Awami League, for the mayoral race.
Incumbent mayor of Dhunot municipality AGM Badshah, also a member of the Awami League’s upazila unit, did not get party ticket this time. So he resigned from the party before submitting his nomination paper. Moreover, mayor hopeful Al Amin Tarafder has quit the Awami League to contest the election as an independent candidate.
Even though the central leaders of the Awami League have ordered the rebels to withdraw their candidature and support the party-nominated candidates, Badshah and Al Amin think most of the voters were in their favour.
On the other hand, the BNP has their lone nominee in Dhunot municipal election, former mayor Alimuddin Harun Mandal.
Badshah alleged that district unit President Mamtaz Uddin and General Secretary Mojibur Rahman Mojnu had not discussed the nomination issue with the upazila or municipality units.
Mojibur refuted the allegation, and hoped that Shariful would win the election.
The ruling party-backed mayoral candidate in Sarikandi is also facing two rebels – former mayor Abdul Hamid Sarder and Abdur Rashid Farazi.
The duo claimed that the nomination of upazila unit General Secretary Alamgir Shahi Sumon as the mayoral candidate was partisan. They also refused to withdraw their candidature, but the district returning office has cancelled their nomination papers during scrutiny.
The BNP-backed candidate, Tipu Sultan, has no rival from the party but he has got his nomination paper cancelled for concealing information and audit objections. He is the incumbent mayor of the municipality.
Hamid, Farazi and Tipu have appealed against the EC’s decision.
