‘Boat’ candidates ‘untroubled’ in 14 of 19 seats in Dhaka

Ruling party Awami League candidates in 14 of 19 seats in Dhaka city are untroubled. They are more or less assured of victory as there are no other strong contenders in these seats. There is still likely to be competition in the remaining 5 seats because Awami League leaders have stood as independent candidates in these constituencies.

Jatiya Party is vying for 13 seats in Dhaka under the ‘plough’ symbol, but the candidates are hardly active in most of the seats in the capital. Awami League has relinquished one seat, Dhaka-18, to Jatiya Party. The ‘plough’ candidates are active in three of four seats of Dhaka including this one.

Other than the ‘plough’ symbol, there are several candidates with the symbols of ‘mango’, ‘green coconut’ and ‘television’. While there are many candidates with these symbols, they are not strong individually or organizationally. So the ‘mango’, ‘green coconut’ and ‘plough’ symbol candidates are hardly in a position to contest against the ‘boat’ symbol. This was evident while visiting various constituencies of the city.

According to the Election Commission (EC), there are 156 candidates in the 20 seats of Dhaka district and city. There are a minimum of 5 to a maximum of 13 candidates in each seat of Dhaka. In the 19 seats where there are ‘boat’ candidates, the second highest number of candidates has been fielded by National People’s Party with the ‘mango’ symbol. Jatiya Party candidates with the ‘plough’ are contesting in 13 of the Dhaka seats. Next there are 11 candidates of Trinomool BNP with the ‘golden fibre’ symbol, 11 of Bangladesh Sangskritil Muktijote’s ‘cane’ symbol, 10 of Bangladesh Nationalist Front (BNF) with the ‘television’ symbol and 6 of Bangladesh Congress with the ‘green coconut’ symbol.

After the election symbols were allocated on 18 December, campaigning began officially. Seven days have passed since then, but other than Awami League, the rest of the contending parties hardly have any banners, posters, campaigning over mikes and meeting the public in Dhaka city. A visit to Dhaka 6, 8, 10 and 13 on Saturday, saw no campaigning in the field other than for the Awami League candidates.

Dhaka-8 comprises 9 wards of Dhaka South City Corporation. Awami League’s joint general secretary AFM Bahauddin is the ‘boat’ candidate of this constituency. There are no independent candidates here. The other nine contestants for this seat are of the ‘mango’, ‘minaret’, candle’, cane’, ‘ek tara’, plough’, ‘golden fibre’, ‘garland’, and ‘television’ symbols. No posters of these parties were seen Sunday during a visit to Shahbagh, Shantinagar, Kakrail, Malibagh and Maghbazar. There were a few ‘golden fibre’ posters at the Malibagh though and a few ‘cane’ posters here and there. The local people are unfamiliar with these symbols and parties. The entire constituency is covered with ‘boat’ posters.

The newly registered Trinomool BNP has candidates in 11 seats. But their candidates are hardly seen campaigning. When asked about the matter, Trinomool BNP election committee convener Salam Mahmud told Prothom Alo, “The Trinomool candidates are in the field. There are financial considerations too when it comes to campaigning. The candidates have put up quite a few posters in Dhaka-6 and Dhaka-8.”

The Awami League candidate of Dhaka-10 constituency comprising Dhanmondi, Kalabagan and New Market areas is the film star Ferdous Ahmed. There are the fewest candidates in this constituency, five in all. Contending against the ‘boat’ are JaPa’s Md Shahjahan with the ‘plough’ symbol and candidates of the ‘mango’, ‘cane’ and ‘television’ symbols.

Other than the ‘boat’, posters of Shahriar Iftekhar of the ‘cane’ symbol could been seen in Dhaka-10. Former mayor of Dhaka South city corporation Sayeed Khokan is the ‘boat’ candidate in Dhaka-6. His rivals for the seat are National People’ Party, Jatiya Party (JP), Gono Front, Mukti Jote, Trinomool BNP and Islami Oikya Jote candidates. The existence of these candidates of the other parties in this constituency of Kotwali and Sutrapur thanas is hardly visible except for a few posters of Trinomool BNP.

When asked about the matter, National People’s Party chairman Sheikh Salahuddin yesterday told Prothom Alo, “No posters of any candidate other than the boat is visible. We are not financially strong as a party. The candidates have made efforts individually. We are in the election for the sake to democratic continuity.”

Awami League presidium member Jahangir Kabir Nanak is the ‘boat’ candidate for Dhaka-13. No one from Awami League is contending against him as an independent candidate. The remaining five candidates are from obscure parties.

There are no strong candidates who can put up a tangible contest against the Awami League candidates Kamrul Islam in Dhaka-2, Nasrul Hamid in Dhaka-3, Solaiman Selim in Dhaka-7, Saber Hossain Chowdhury in Dhaka-9, Wakil Uddin Dhaka-11, Asaduzzaman Khan Dhaka-12, Kamal Ahmed Majumdar Dhaka-15, Ilyas Uddin Molla Dhaka-16 and Mohammad Ali Arafat Dhaka-17.

The Awami League candidate is Dhaka-1 comprising Dohar and Nawabganj is the incumbent member of parliament and the prime minister’s private investment industry and investment advisor Salman F Rahman. Contending for this seat with the ‘plough’ symbol is the parliament member from reserved seats for women and Jatiya Party co-chairman Salma Islam.

There is possibility of a three-way contest in the Dhaka-4 constituency. The Awami League candidate here is former member of parliament Sanjida Khanam. Contesting with the ‘plough’ is the Jatiya Party’s Syed Abu Hossain Babla who was the MP for the last two times. The independent candidate in this constituency comprising Shyampur-Kadamtali is former assistant secretary to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Awlad Hossain.

Independent candidate Awlad Hossain lost in the 10^th national election to Abu Hossain by a margin o less than 3000 votes. So Awlad Hossain with the ‘truck’ symbol may put up a strong fight against the ‘boat’ and the ‘plough’.

The Awami League candidate in Dhaka-5 is the party’s Jatrabari thana unit general secretary Harunur Rashid (Munna). Awami League has two independent candidates in this Demra-Jatrabari seat. They are Dhaka South Swechchhashebok League president Kamrul Hasan (eagle) and Demra thana Awami League former general secretary Mashiur Rahman Molla (truck). Mashiur’s father Habibur Rahman Molla was the MP in this seat four times.

Former MP of the reserved seats for women and Dhaka city Jubo Mahila League former president Sabina Akhter Tuhin is an independent candidate for Dhaka-14. Her campaign is visible in the area. Sabina Akhter claims that she has the backing of the local Awami League, a part of Jubo League and Jubo Mahila League. Awami League’s candidate her is Jubo League general secretary Mainul Hossain Khan Nikhil. His campaigning is strong too.

State minister for disaster management and relief Enamur Rahman was the MP in the last two times for Dhaka-19 and is contesting this time too as the Awami League candidate. He may face still competition from Talukdar Mohammad Touhid Jong (Murad) who failed to secure the ‘boat’ ticket. The other independent candidate in this constituency is Awami League’s general secretary Saiful Islam.

Tetuljhora union chairman Mohammad Fakhrul Alam who is campaigning for Enamur Rahman, speaking to Prothom Alo, said Enamur Rahman had been providing medical treatment to the people of Savar for the last 30 to 40 years. There have never been any allegations of his being involved in any dubious business here. He feels that the voters, regardless of political affiliation, will support him.

Meanwhile, Abdul Halim, senior vice president of Savar municipality Awami League and in charge of Touhid Jong’s election campaign in 73 wards of Savar pourashava, told Prothom Alo that over the past 10 years the present Awami League MP could not create even a single party activist. On the contrary, he has given important party posts to those who have harassed and abused tried and tested activists. There is anger against him at the grassroots because of this. That is why the party men are working in favour of Touhid Jong.

Awami League member of parliament Benazir Ahmad is the party candidate for the Dhaka-20 (Dhamrai) seat. The independent candidates here are the upazila AL president and former MP MA Malek former upazila chairman Mohaddes Hossain. Local people feel that the Awami League candidate will face a still fight here.

There are doubts as to how competitive the 12th parliamentary election will be, being boycotted by BNP and various other parties. Awami League has encouraged its own party leaders to contest as independent candidates to give the election a semblance of competition. But other than a few ‘mango’ and ‘green coconut’ candidates, in most of Dhaka’s seats there are no significant candidates against the ‘boat’. Political analysts see the election is most of Dhaka’s seats as a mere formality.

(Samsuzzaman, Savar, assisted by providing information for this report.)