Unlike the 2010 city elections that saw no women candidates running for a general councillor seat in Chittagong, this year – three women aspirants have shunned the seats reserved for women and are fighting to get elected a ward councillor in a general seat.
The three female candidates – Fatema Badsha from Ward 23, Rabeya Sultana from Ward 11 and Momtaz Begum from Ward 4 – said they chose to run against other male candidates in general seats as reserved female ward councillors were deprived of many powers, allotment and chances.
“Like the general ward councillor contestants, we [women candidates] also give many promises to the voters; but after winning as a councillor for a reserved seat, we do not get equal distribution of opportunities to carry out development works or to fulfil our electoral pledges. As a result, voters grow to distrust us. So, this year we are contesting against the men for general ward councillor posts,” said Fatema.
“I have been involved with politics for a long time, and I have seen there is not enough equal rights for reserved female ward councillor under the present structure of the city corporation,” added Fatema, joint secretary of Jatiyatabadi Mohila Dal’s Central Committee.
For the annual development budget, the female councillors from reserved seats – who have to cover three wards – are allotted only half of what the general councillors in those three wards get in total, Fatema said.
Also pointing out the futility of reserved seats, Awami League-backed Rabeya said: “Reserved female ward councillor is like a showcase post without any power or opportunity.
“While such a ward councillor has to win after convincing the voters of three general wards, the general ward’s contestants have to convince only their respective area’s voters,” said Rabeya, claiming that the triple amount of work was an injustice to the candidates who ran in the women’s reserved seats.
While Fatema and Rabeya are running to win equal opportunities as ward councillors, Momtaz – whose husband BNP leader Mahbubul Alam was the immediate-past councillor in her ward – said she was running in the general seat as part of a political strategy.
Mahbub is currently behind bars in a case, but Momtaz said: “The government intentionally implicated my husband in a false case, but the local voters will give an answer to it with their votes.”
CCC Election’s Returning Officer Md Abdul Baten said there are 41 general wards and 14 reserved female wards for the 70 lakh voters of the port city.
In the election, Fatema would fight against four male competitors, Rabeya three and Momtaz against five competitors, said EC sources.
Saying women empowerment was absent in the local government of the country’s second largest city, the three women contestants added they wanted to win in their respective seats to prove that women were more eligible than male candidates.
