The victory of Jatiya Party (JP) mayoral candidate Mostafizar Rahman Mostafa in Rangpur City Corporation (RCC) election with a landslide margin in a rather peaceful election invariably showed voters can even playfully defeat ruling party candidate in a free and fair election.
Awami League candidate got a heavy thrashing by the candidate of General Ershad who was condemned by people as a hateful anti-democracy dictator. It is time for the Awami League leaders to think where they have taken the biggest democratic party built by so many of its leaders though their blood and sacrifice.
The people are now preferring General Ershad’s party discarding once a great party Awami League. It has also been exposed that the government’s boast of success for its politics of development is nothing but baseless lies and false propaganda. The people expressed their mind rejecting all false claims about development. Rangpur voters use the free election to reject Awami League in power with anger and vengeance.
Of course, Awami League leaders know they are terribly unpopular and that is why no free election is possible keeping them in government. They fear people’s vote. So their plan is to win the next general election while not giving up power to make free election out of question.
Free general election is a nightmare for the government. So the crisis for holding the general election free and fair will be denied making violent confrontations inevitable. We urge the government not be so power hungry and be ready to accept the people’s verdict and give up relying on corrupt and incompetent people surrounding the government. Go the peaceful way and not against the people.
RCC election has clearly showed once again like the miserable defeat of ruling party’s mayoral candidate in Comilla City Corporation election in March this year people are well informed of the political reality in the ground. The people are not being misled by false propaganda about development, it was not helpful to the people.
In Comilla City Corporation election early this year even ruling party cadres backed by police and local administration had failed to defeat BNP candidate for he was highly popular in city voters. It happened in Rangpur this time again to clearly suggest the government has no popularity to face a free and fair election. Their plan is to win election with the help of the bureaucrats denying free access to people to vote.
Surprising the nation Mostafa got 1,60,489 votes while his rival party Awami League candidate and outgoing mayor Sharfuddin Ahmed Jhantu bagged 62,400 votes in total reverse of election results of 2012 when both candidates had faced each other in the RCC polls. That time Awami League candidate won 106,225 votes as against 77,805 votes for JP candidate Mostafa. BNP candidate is at a far distant third this time although the number of votes increased.
Some analysts want to say former dictator Hussain Muhammad Ershad’s popularity has won the massive victory for his party candidate this time in an election not grossly rigged by ruling party cadres.
But this myth has not many takers who believe it is Awami League’s unpopularity and BNP’s failure to run a well organized electioneering campaign for various police hindrances, most people voted for the other viable candidate.
