Awami League mayoral candidate for Narayanganj city Selina Hayat Ivy holds a child in her lap as she continued election campaign at ward eight of the city on Tuesday (left), Bangladesh Nationalist Party mayoral candidate for Narayanganj city Sakhawat Hossain Khan, with BNP central leaders, embraces an elderly man as he wooed voters on Tuesday.
Central and local Bangladesh Nationalist Party leaders on Tuesday began campaigning for their mayoral candidate in Narayanganj city polls, scheduled for December 22, while neither central nor local leaders of the ruling Awami League were seen to campaign for their mayoral candidate.
Two major mayoral candidates – Selina Hayat Ivy of AL and Sakhawat Hossain Khan of BNP – were, however, seen busy seeking votes visiting people in the city.
Local BNP leaders took part in the campaign for Sakhawat after a team central leaders led by BNP standing committee member Gayeshwar Chandra Roy started campaigning from the party office in Narayanganj city, local people said.
BNP Narayanganj district unit president Taimur Alam Khandaker and general secretary Kazi Moniruzzaman, city unit president Jahangir Alam and secretary general ATM Kamal, and former lawmakers Abul Kalam and M Gias Uddin campaigned for Shkhawat in different areas.
During the election campaign, Gayeshwar said that people were earnestly waiting to cast their vote for the BNP candidate and now the Election Commission was responsible for ensuring a free and fair election.
BNP central leaders Fazlul Haq Milon, Khairul Kabir Khokon and Abdus Salam also took part in the campaign.
Ivy went to the doors of the voters at Ward-8 in Siddhirganj area along with ward AL leaders, but no city, district and central leaders were seen, local people said.
Freedom fighters Mohiuddin Mohi and M Julhas took part in the electioneering for Ivy, they said.
They also said that party leaders who belonged to local lawmaker Shamim Osman’s quarter were yet to join the campaign for Ivy.
The phones of Narayanganj city AL president Anower Hossain and general secretary Khokon Saha were found switched-off in several attempts on Tuesday.
A central AL team led by presidium member Kazi Zafarullah held a meeting at Narayanganj AL office on Monday and asked party leaders and activists to work united for winning the city poll, meeting sources said.
Local people also said that they saw posters of Ivy at places including Siddhirganj and Bandar but not in the main town, barring in front of BNP office.
The BNP-led alliance on Tuesday formed a coordination committee, excluding its partner Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, to carry out electioneering for Sakhawat.
BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir announced the committee after a secretary general-level meeting of the alliance at BNP’s Nayapaltan central office.
Fakhrul said that the coordination committee was divided into three groups who would start campaigning from December 10.
Returning officer Nuruzzaman Talukder said that no complaint was submitted to the Election Commission on Tuesday and no irregularities in the electioneering was found.
Source: New Age