No buzz among voters as Khulna mayoral race nears

There is not much strong hype among the voters in the Khulna City Corporation (KCC) due to lack of any strong opponent to compete with the ruling Awami League mayoral aspirant in the polls scheduled for 12 June.

Alongside AL, two other parties — the Jatiya Party and the Islami Shashantantra Andolan have nominated their candidates for the mayoral race as well, while the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) still remains adamant to stay away from any polls.   

"The Awami League and BNP are the two main parties. If one of them does not take part in the election, the election will be one-sided," said Kudrat E Khuda, president of the Sachetan Nagorik Samaj in Khulna (SaNaK), a platform of civil society. 

AL-backed mayoral candidate Talukder Abdul Khaleque, however, feels that despite the absence of contestants from the BNP, the race is not getting any easier. 

"The last date for submitting nominations is 16 May. Who is taking part in the election will not be clear before that. There are other rival candidates to compete with," he said. 

BNP leader Nazrul Islam Manju, who lost in the last KCC polls in 2018, said, "The BNP has the highest popularity in this city. The Awami League would never have won here if there had been a fair vote. The publicity of development works is entirely an eyewash… People don't want promises of development, they want their democratic rights," he added.

Khulna Metropolitan BNP Convener Shafiqul Alam Mona said, "If anyone files a candidacy disobeying the decision of the party, organisational action will be taken against him. They may even be expelled from the party," said.

However, Khulna Metropolitan BNP member Ashfakur Rahman, who was elected councillor three times from ward-19, said that he aspires to participate in the polls again.

"The people of the area are asking me to run again, and because of that, even if the BNP does not go to the polls, I will be an independent candidate," he said.

However, Khulna District Jatiya Party President Shafiqul Islam Modhu and Islami Shashantantra Andolan's Nayeb-e-Amir Maolana Abdul Awal have secured tickets from the respective parties to join the mayoral race.

This will be the sixth election in the Khulna City Corporation since its formation in 1984. This time, councillor candidates will not be allowed to use party symbols in the polls.