Dhaka City Corporation polls ahead, pledges unkept

Elections to the two city corporations--Dhaka south and north--were last held in April 2015. These were the first city corporation polls after the city corporation was divided. According to the rules, the election has to be held within 90 days after a term. The Election Commission (EC) too has taken preparations accordingly. Senior secretary of the election commission, Md. Alamgir, said the elections will be held in the last week of January.

Though the city corporations have not yet declared the schedule, speculations have spread amid political quarters. There is much discussion and debate over possible candidates of the two main parties--Bangladesh Awami League (AL) and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Several have already declared themselves candidates for mayor and councillor positions. Possible mayoral aspirants as well as councillor aspirants are the talk of the town.

The elections are to be held at a time when several councillors are in prison or in hiding. Their corruption was revealed in the anti corruption drives. Though the peoples' representatives pledged to serve the people before the election, their actual role after assuming the office was quite different as the investigations revealed. Many more crimes will be revealed if they government pledged anticorruption drives continue. Instead of taking up their duties with due responsibility, the local government representatives seem to have become more reckless, corrupt and delinquent.

The mayor and councillor aspirants pledged many things during the 2015 city corporation elections. Many pledged to turn Dhaka into a highly developed city. The city dwellers must seek how far they have fulfilled the pledges. Former Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) mayor Annisul Huq took some bold steps for public welfare which was recognised by all. Though the DNCC got a new mayor following his demise, the spirit did not return.

The Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) went on the same old pattern. Both of the city corporations were unable to take fast and proper decisions during the dengue season. There were infrastructural problems too. The waterlogging crisis was not resolved either. No initiatives have been taken to form companies for bus services across the capital.

There have been allegations that mayors of one party could hardly work when a different party was in power as they did not receive proper cooperation. But the mayors who were in the office in last five years in the two cities came from the ruling party so the allegations do not apply. The mayors cannot ignore the responsibilities if the city corporations fail to fulfill the people's needs.

Right now, the inhabitants of Dhaka expect a free and fair election. The current election commission held several elections including the parliamentary election and the local government elections, but did not uphold the people's right to vote. People have lost faith in this constitutional body. This should not be repeated.