CONSTITUENCY DHAKA 5
Voters do not believe in pledges
Taib Ahmed
With the candidates running for Dhaka 5 and making plenty of promises for the development of the constituency, the general voters tend to believe 30 per cent of their pledges will not be implemented after the elections.
The voters, however, expect that some of the longstanding problems of the area including the perennial water logging and water, gas and power supply shortages in the area will be addressed by the winning candidate.
They hope that road communications and other infrastructures will be developed and crimes like extortion and mugging will be curbed with an iron hand.
Of a total of 15 candidates, campaigns for five were noticeable on Sunday. The constituency which has about 3,61,824 registered voters includes Dhaka city corporation ward no 84, 85, 86, Donia, Matuail, Sarulia union of Demra, Shyampur and Jatrabari.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led alliance candidate, Salah Uddin Ahmed of the BNP with the election symbol ‘sheaf of paddy’ was found campaigning to bag the seat again while Syed Abu Hossain of Jatiya Party with ‘plough’ and the workers of Habibur Rahman Mollah with ‘boat’ symbols were conducting campaigns claiming them as the candidates of the AL-led alliance. Habibur Rahman Mollah is still in jail.
The Election Commission allotted the election symbol of boat to Habibur Rahman Mollah as he got back his candidature after the legal battle. The Awami League earlier conceded the constituency to Jatiya Party leader, Syed Abu Hossain. This changed the voting equation in the constituency.
The Islami Andalan Bangladesh’s ATM Hemayet Uddin with the election symbol ‘hand fan’ and Md Zamir Ahmed of Kalyan Party with the symbol ‘wrist watch’ were also carrying out campaign.
Besides addressing the election rallies across the constituency, the candidates were seen on Sunday visiting different spots where people had gathered and moving door to door to woo the voters making promises.
The candidates have formed committees for each of the polling stations with central election committees meant for monitoring the activities. A few camps of both the candidates were found using loudspeakers.
Syed Abu Hossain, who has been contesting for the constituency since 1986 elections, was found conducting the campaign with a small-sized motorcade and a loudspeaker on Sunday. He was seeking votes in the name of both HM Ershad and Sheikh Hasina. ‘The Awami League-led alliance has endorsed me as the alliance candidate for Dhaka 5. So I think the common people and the supporters from the AL and JP will vote and work for me,’ Abu Hossain told New Age on Sunday.
Expressing optimism to win the race, Salah Uddin Ahmed told New Age, ‘No act of crime will be allowed in the area. I will create a special security network in the area to stop terrorism and extortion, if voted to power.’
Workers of both the alliances raised allegations against one another and they tore up the posters of their opponent.
‘All the candidates are making plenty of lofty pledges. But I do not think all of them will be implemented. The candidates are in the habit of making pledges before the polls to woo us, but they forget everything after the polls,’ said Momtazuddin Ahmed, a trader at Jatrabari.
‘We do not want to have a long list of pledges. We want the problem of water logging in the area to be solved as early as possible and extortion and mugging to be stopped,’ he added.
Asked how many promises made by the candidates in the previous elections were implemented, Shahin Ahmed, an employee of a school, said, ‘The immediate-past MP of the constituency, Salah Uddin Ahmed did not keep most of his words.’
Courtesy: newagebd.com
