Staff Reporter :
Numerically businessmen lead the third phase of the upazila election also, which will be held on March 15 in 83 upazilas. The profession of 52.42 percent of the candidates is business, while 19.34 percent’s is agriculture.
Sushashoner Jonno Nagorik (Sujan), a non-government organisation, disclosed the statistics told the journalists at the Dhaka Reporters’ Unity (DRU) on Monday. The Sujan in its previous statistics said that the profession of the 55.47 percent candidates in the second phase of the polls was business, while 20.35 was agriculture.
At the press conference, Sujan Secretary Dr Badiul Alam Majumder was critical of LGRD Minister Syed Ashraful Islam for his recent statement that ‘practice of publishing the affidavits given by the candidates is like assassinating the character of a politician’. The statement of the minister is tantamount to the politics of corruption and immorality’, he said.
Dr Badiul Alam hit at the present government for not becoming honest to its pledges. It has failed to make the wealth statements of ministers and MPs publicly. The government pledged twice to reveal the wealth statements of the ruling party men. But unfortunately it has failed miserably, he said.
Voicing concern over political influence in the local government election, he said, it is a matter of regret that political parties put pressure on rebel candidates to withdraw their candidature in favour of parties’ nominees in the polls. The pressure is tantamount to violation of the election code of conduct, he added.
Co-coordinator of Sujan, Sanjida Haque Bipasha, presented the keynote paper and said that the affidavits of 393 chairman candidates out of 432 were studied. Among them, 206 are businessmen, while 76 are farmers, 39 are service holders, 23 are lawyers, five are housewives and 18 are related with other professions. The professions of 26 were not mentioned, Bipasha said.
According to the statistics, 50.44 percent candidates are either graduates or postgraduates while 20 percent did not pass the SSC examination. Only 48 candidates obtained the HSC degree while 53 candidates passed the SSC and the educational qualification of 78 is below the SSC. 137 obtained the graduation and 73 post-graduation degrees. Four others did not mention their academic qualifications in their affidavits.
Among the candidates, 16 are facing murder charges while 27 were accused in murder cases in the past. Now a total of 118 candidates are accused in various cases, which is 30.20 percent of the total candidates.
Five candidates have wealth, including the wealth of dependents, worth more than Tk five crore each, while 45 others over Tk one crore each. The annual income of two candidates is more than one crore each, while that of 121 is less than Tk two lakh.
