A blatant violation of electoral code of conduct was in sight as outsiders were still campaigning for their respective party favourites on Thursday ignoring the Election Commission’s directives on leaving the city by July 3 midnight.
The strangers of both the camps – Awami League and BNP – were still found active in campaigning for their mayoral candidates across the district.
Though most of the senior leaders left the city following the EC’s directives, a section of central leaders took up different strategies to run their campaign.
The Election Commission, however, said it did not receive any news on the outsiders’ campaign in the city polls.
If any such news surfaces, it will take legal action, said the EC.
Visiting different areas, it was learnt that central Awami League leaders Shahriar Alam, Aminul Islam Amin, Sujit Roy Nandi, Khalilur Rahman, central organising secretary Ahmed Hossain, Jubo Mohila League president and some other senior leaders were campaigning for Azmat Ullah Khan in Joydebpur, Konabari and Kashimpur areas.
Besides, a number of central leaders of the party were campaigning for their candidates in different garment factories and many in transport, travelling from Dhaka to Mymensingh and again from Mymensingh to Dhaka.
“So far as I know, all central leaders have left the city following the election commission’s directives,” Amanat Hossain Khan, coordinator of Azmat’s polls campaign, told the Dhaka Tribune.
Asked about the central leaders who were still running for campaign, Amanat said, “Many of them own rest houses and factories in Gazipur.”
Shahriar Alam and Asaduzzaman Noor have rest houses in Gazipur. So they might come here for business purposes,” he added.
On the other hand, BNP standing committee member ASM Hannan Shah, district BNP president Fazlul Haque Milon, general secretary Sayedul Islam Babul, vice-chairman Hafiz Uddin Ahmed, Altaf Hossain Chowdhury, central JASAS leader Monir Khan and some other leaders were campaigning in favour of their candidate MA Mannan.
Mannan’s press secretary Shoaib Ahmed confirmed that the leaders were still in the city to campaign for their candidate. Milon and Babul are not voters of the city corporation. They belong to other constituencies.
“I did not carry out any campaign. I came to Gazipur city for my personal work and would leave the city by 12pm,” Fazlul Haque Milon said.
But Milon was seen campaigning in Pubail area till filing the report at 7pm.
Contacted, Hasan Uddin Sarkar, coordinator of Mannan’s polls campaign, said: “We followed the EC’s directives and none of the outsiders campaigned for our candidate.”
Asked about Hannan Shah’s presence in the city, he said: “On the way to his village, the leader came to the party office to take rest. He did not take part in any campaign.”
Motiar Rahman, returning officer of Gazipur polls, said: “I wrote to all the candidates and even verbally requested them to ask their campaigners from outside to leave the city.”
If any outsiders are found campaigning for any candidates, legal action will be taken against them, he added.
“We have to judge what their intentions are. We won’t spare anyone on the eve of the election,” he warned.
