The ruling Awami League (AL) plans to go for massive election campaigning, from December 10, for the upcoming parliamentary polls scheduled for January 5. This time, the party will use local and social media outlets for its election campaign, to win the coming elections. Talking to The Independent, Awami League publicity Secretary Dr Hassan Mahmud said, “This time, we will go for a massive campaign through print and electronic media, as well as online media outlets.”
He said the party will publish special supplements in all newspapers, and the same thing will also be done in the electronic media, as advertisement, where the success stories of the AL-led government, and the misdeeds, corruption and terrorist activities of the BNP-Jamaat government, will be highlighted.
“We have already talked with the members of the Cable Operators’ Association of Bangladesh, in this regard. Two private television channels have already started to air our advertisements, and, soon, the rest of the private channels will start to do the same thing,” the AL publicity secretary said.
“A delegation led by the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s adviser, HT Imam, will meet the editors of the newspapers soon,” Hassan Mahmud, also the forest and environment minister of the newly formed all-party poll-time government.
He said that the party has taken the decision, in a bid to educate people about what they should do in the coming elections.
A party source said the party would go for its election campaigning through both print and electronic media outlets, from December 10.
A member of the party’s publicity sub-committee told The Independent that, in the mean time, all works for election campaigning through social media networks, like Facebook, Twitter, blogs and email, have been completed, at the directives of the Prime Minister’s son and IT specialist, Sajeeb Wazed Joy.
Some private university students have already been appointed, who will lead Awami League’s cyber campaign, in a bid to make it victorious in the next general election.
Chief election commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmed had, on November 25, announced the schedule for the 10th parliamentary elections. In the draft schedule, January 5 was fixed as the election date, December 6 as the last date for submission of nomination, December 8 and 9 were fixed for scrutiny of nominations, and December 17 as the last date for nomination withdrawal.
The Election Commission, on Tuesday, published a circular regarding the electoral code of conduct, where it has been specified that no political party can start its election campaign, before three weeks of election.
-With The Independent input
