Nearly 80% of councillor candidates in Rajshahi are businessmen

The rate of businessmen among councillor candidates in Rajshahi city election stands at 78.11%, observed the Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik (Shujan).

Of the 112 councillor candidates, 83 are businessmen and 12 are farmers while eight others are job holders and two are lawyers, Shujan said after analysing the affidavits submitted by the candidates at the Election Commission (EC).

In addition, out of the 46 councillor candidates for the reserved seat for women, 11 have mentioned their profession as business while 32 are housewives and one is job holder.

Of the four mayoral candidates, two have mentioned themselves as lawyers while two are businesspeople and one is a tutor cum religious discussant.

According to the analysis presented by the leaders of Shujan at a press conference in the city on Saturday, the rate of businessmen contesting Rajshahi city polls has increased to 58.64% this year, compared to 48.38% in the last polls in 2018, a trend indicating the dominance of businessmen in candidacy.

This increasing number of businessmen and declining proportion of other professions in the election is not a positive sign, and at the same time, it is not good for the democratic system, observed Shujan.

In addition, the rate of low-income candidates has slightly decreased to 76.54%, compared to 82.02% in the 2018 election. In 2018, there was no candidate who earned more than Tk1 crore, whereas three such high-earning candidates [1.85%] are in the race this year.

According to the analysis by Shujan, the percentage of low-earning candidates has also decreased this year, compared to the 2018 election. In the 2018 election, 67.28% of the candidates had assets worth less than Tk5 lakh each. The percentage has decreased to 50% this time.

The rate of candidates with net wealth of one crore taka has also increased to 3.70% compared to last election's 1.84%, meaning the rate of wealthy candidates has jumped.

However, Shujan leaders said that they prepared these estimations based on the acquisition value of the candidates' assets mentioned in their affidavits, and observed that most of the candidates have more assets than this.

Ahead of the 12th general election, the Election Commission (EC) should treat the ongoing city polls with utmost importance, observed Shujan, as said by its central coordinator Dilip Kumar Sarker.