‘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.

Other candidates out of sight

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.