A large number of voters at Pabna’s Bera and Santhia upazilas have expressed their unwillingness to cast ballots in today’s parliamentary polls, saying the “one-sided” election meant nothing to them.
“This is not a national election, rather it should be called as the election of Awami League where the main contest is between an incumbent and a former Awami League MP”, said Mohammad Shafi, a resident of Dowlatpur village of Santhia upazila, which is known as a hub of Jamaat-e-Islami because former ameer of the party Motitur Rahman Nizami hailed from there.
The reluctance to vote is evident in the absence of festive election mood in the Pabna 1 constituency, which consists Bera and Santhia upazilas.
Shafi also said the common people had no interest in the kind of election which had no future, adding that everybody – except a few party men – were busy with their livelihoods.
Regarding popularity among the voters, independent candidate Prof Abu Sayeed was leading the race ahead of incumbent lawmaker Awami League candidate Shamsul Haque Tuku.
Talking to over a hundred people in the constituency, the Dhaka Tribune found that most were uninterested about the polls. Many of the locals however said if they were to vote, they would choose Sayeed, who was a former state minister for information.
“If the election turns out to be fair, I hope Abu Sayeed will be elected,” said Joynal Abedin, a voter from Nakalia village. He however added that the results were uncertain as Shamsul Haque Tuku – the incumbent state minister for home – controlled the law enforcement agencies.
The locals also claimed that they were refraining from supporting the incumbent lawmaker because he served his own interest instead of serving the people.
“He [Tuku] did nothing for the locality, rather Tuku engaged himself to earn wealth in different ways,” said Mobarak Hossain, a tea-stall owner at Koromja Bazar of Bera, adding that Sayeed was far better than Tuku.
Tuku did not bear the weight to be a lawmaker, another voter Faruk Hossain from Sharisha village claimed. People voted for Tuku in the previous election because of the wave of change promised by the Awami League and because Sayeed – the lawmaker elected in the 1996 elections – did not get AL nomination, he added.
However, some workers of Tuku’s election office were seen yesterday morning to persuade people to cast vote for the candidate.
On the other hand, Sayeed expressed concerns of failing in his election bid, as the local police were allegedly working on behalf of Tuku.
Three officers-in-charge of Bera, Santhia and Ataikula police stations were closed on Friday by a special order from the Election Commission, following allegations from Sayeed.
The supporters of Sayeed were also reportedly harassed by Tuku’s followers in different ways including the filing of lawsuits, Ishrafil Alam, a supporter of Sayeed said.
With the election race lacking any opposition candidate, including former Jamaat chief Nizami who was twice elected lawmaker from the constituency in 1991 and 2001, rumours suggested that the opposition activists secretly supported Sayeed because they wanted Tuku to fail.
Rais Uddin, secretary of Bera upazila unit of BNP, however told the Dhaka Tribune that they were boycotting the election and would no way support anybody from Awami League.
Mostafizur Rahman Firoz, acting ameer of Santhia upazila Jamaat, also denied allegations of extending support to any candidate, and said no Jamaat worker will join the polls.
