The election commission has expressed satisfaction over the Gazipur City Corporation polls held on 25 May. However, it cannot be said that the election was fully participatory. Many parties, including main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), did not take part in the election. The claim and the complacency of the EC would have been acceptable if all the parties had taken part in the GCC polls.
In this context, the elections to the Khulna and Barishal city corporations are going to be held on 12 June and the Rajshahi and Sylhet city polls will be held on 21 June.
Like Gazipur, the elections to these four city corporations will be held without the participation of the main opposition BNP. In that case, there is no scope of being too optimistic about the important city polls.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal has spoken about taking a stronger stance in the upcoming elections to four cities.
Election commissioner Rashida Sultana has said the EC will be stricter in the upcoming four city polls if the situation demands. However, the decision regarding installing close circuit cameras in voting booths has not been taken as yet, she said.
Ensuring a level playing field for all the candidates is precondition of a fair election. However, there were allegations of obstructing the election campaigns of the candidates who were contesting against the ruling party's candidate in the GCC polls. The ruling party candidate had a smooth election campaign though.
The same allegation has been brought in Sylhet city corporation as well. At least 12 members of parliament have taken part in the electioneering of the ruling party candidate, which is a clear violation of the electoral code of conduct. The Jatiya Party nominated candidate is also accused of violating the electoral code of conduct.
The EC has sought explanation from these two candidates after Prothom Alo ran a report on this.
It is a matter of hope that the people involved with the voting management of the GCC polls were largely neutral. However, there are questions as to which had the bigger role behind this - the EC or the new US visa policy.
The US announced the new visa policy for Bangladeshis on the previous day of the GCC polls. It says it will be tough to get the US visa for the people who will obstruct the holding of a free and fair election.
Naturally, the people, who were involved in the electoral process, were cautious following the announcement from the US.
The ruling party leaders were surprised with the GCC poll result and had declared to put on an all-out effort to ensure victory of their candidates in the four upcoming city polls.
Of the four cities, the factional rift within the ruling party is severe in Barishal. Although the central leaders visited Barishal repeatedly in phases to restore organisational discipline, they failed.
The ruling Awami League has nominated Abul Khayer Abdullah, the uncle of incumbent mayor Sadiq Abdullah, as the mayoral candidate there. Already, there are reports of clashes between the supporters of Sadiq Abdullah and Abul Khayer Abdullah.
There are no reports of factional conflict within the ruling party in the remaining three cities. The EC should be highly cautious to ensure that the factional clash of the ruling party or reckless behaviour of the supporters of any candidate do not ruin the polls environment.
Besides, a level playing field should be ensured in every phase from election campaign to voting. Otherwise, the partial success that the EC achieved through the GCC polls will not only be undermined, the elections will also be questionable.