Campaign for the elections in two city corporations of capital Dhaka ends today, Thursday. Meanwhile, on the eve of the voting process, campaign by all candidates nominated by different parties for all the mayoral and ward councillor posts had reached the peak. They carried out campaign programmes despite rains in capital on Wednesday.
As part of the campaign, AL nominated DNCC Mayoral candidate Atiqul Islam was on the field along with his wife, daughter and other family members. He carried out campaign at the capital’s Mohakhali area. On the other hand, BNP nominated DNCC Mayoral candidate Tabith Awal on Wednesday urged his voters and supporters to remain present in the voting centres without fear and cast votes for him. During his campaign at the capital’s Nodda area, Tabith also expressed hope for the victory.
AL nominated DSCC Mayoral candidates Sheikh Fazle Nur Taposh on Wednesday announced his electoral manifesto while BNP nominated DSCC Mayoral candidate Ishraque also remained busy with his campaign at different places. The elections in two mayoral and 172 ward councillor posts of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) and Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) will be held tomorrow, on Saturday.
The elections in DSCC and DNCC are going to be different comparing to all other elections as this time all the votes will be cast through the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM). As part of the measures, huge number of additional forces from different law-enforcement and security agencies have been deployed. A large number of personnel from the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) will also be deployed in capital.
As the elections will be held through the EVMs, around 5,000 personnel from the Bangladesh Army will also remain deployed at the voting centres. According to electoral rules, all types of election campaigns by the mayoral and ward councillor candidates will have to stop by Thursday midnight as the voting will be started from Saturday morning.
During the last time of the election campaign, all the candidates and their supporters were seen putting their highest efforts with various promises and other activities. As part of the campaign, some incidents of clashes also took place among the supporters of different candidates.
Besides, both Bangladesh Awami League and BNP were seen raising allegations against each other of hiring cadres as part of their attempts of manipulating the voting process. In this circumstances, alongside a festive mode, a tense situation was also prevailing in capital centring the elections.
However, the authorities concerned have taken multi-faced measures to avoid untoward incident and also to hold a trouble free election. The authorities have also imposed bans on the movement of all types of transport in capital. However, vehicles carrying patients, journalists and emergency materials would be able to move through special consideration.
According to the EC, a total of 758 candidates are contesting for two Mayoral, 129 general Ward Councillor posts and 43 reserved seats for women. Of them, seven candidates are contesting for DSCC mayoral post. They are Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh from Awami League, Ishraque Hossain from BNP, Mohammad Saifuddin Ahmed Milon from Jatiya Party Abdur Rahman from Islami Andolan, Bahrane Sultan Bahar from National People’s Party (NPP), Akteruzzaman alias Ayatullah from Bangladesh Congress and Abdus Samad Sujan from Gano Front.
Accordingly, six candidates are contesting for the DNCC mayoral post. Of them, incumbent DNCC Mayor Atiqul Islam from Awami League, Tabith Awal from BNP, Ahmmed Sahedul Huq Rubel from Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), Sheikh Fazle Bari Masud gfrom Islami Andolan, Anisur Rahman Dewan from National People’s Party (NPP) and Shahin Khan from PDP.
According to the EC, there are around 54 lakh voters in two city corporations. Of them, 30.36 lakh under 54 wards in DNCC and 23.67 lakh under 75 wards in DSCC. In the upcoming elections, the number of possible polling stations will be 2,500 in the two cities.
