M M Jasim :
Floating and young voters will determine the mayor for Barishal City Corporation to be held on July 30 (Monday).
The mayoral candidates from the Awami League, BNP and other parties are trying their best to bag the votes of the swing and young voters.
There are at least 65,000 floating and young voters in the Barishal City Corporation (BCC) areas. Of them, 31,000 are first-time voters and another 34,000 from 35 slum areas.
The candidates are also making various promises to draw in young voters.
They are promising the new generation of voters that they will attend to their welfare while slum dwellers are promised employment opportunities and solution to their other problems. The locals think that the common practice of the candidates to close in to the new and floating voters will not draw any special attention. The candidates must show new hopes that can be implemented to the voters.
Abdul Latif, a voter from Kawnia area, told The New Nation that the people of Barishal City Corporation areas know that who would work for them after winning in the election. So, every voter is conscious. The candidates must show new hopes for them, especially the new and floating voters.
Md Kamrul Hasan, a new voter, said, “I will cast my vote for him or her who will work to eliminate drugs and other anti-social activities. He or she must also work for our employment.”
“We would never compromise our ballots for money or out of political pressure. They cannot buy votes from us. We will vote for those who work for our development,” Shireen Akhter, a resident of the KDC slum area, told this correspondent.
Araj Miah, a voter from Bhatarkhal slum, said, “We don’t follow any particular political party but will support those who listen to us and provide us with job opportunities.”
Meanwhile, the civil society members are also thinking the same as they said that the new voters are always an important factor in any election. It is also most important in the Barishal city election.
President of Sachetan Nagarik Committee in Barishal Gazi Hossain, said, “First-time voters are always soft-hearted and credulous. Candidates keep on making promises both possible and impossible to fulfill in order to sway their votes.”
The candidates may win the votes of first-timers depending on the promises they make, Gazi Hossain said.
“Slum dwellers live in poverty and are always courted with promises by the candidates, but I don’t think they actually fulfill them,” he said.
President of the district wing of Shujan or Citizens for Good Governance Akkas Hossain said, “Voters will pick candidates who will actually work for the development of the city and are eligible, honest and fearless.”
“Although they live on government-provided land, slum dwellers are as aware of the situation as we are. They cannot be convinced so easily. They don’t cast ballots for money but for the right candidate,” he said.
Six candidates, including the Awami League’s Serniabat Sadiq Abdullah and BNP’s Md Mujibur Rahman Sarwar, are vying for the mayoral post in the July 30 election.
The number of voters in Barishal city has increased to 242,166 this year from 211,257 in 2013.
