Ctg by-election campaign ends
The lacklustre campaign in the two-candidate Chittagong-12 (Anwara-Paschim Patiya) by-election, which is slated for tomorrow, closed last night.
Locals said the campaign never gained momentum due to a lack of interest among voters as the election apparently turns out to be one-sided.
Awami League-nominated Saifuzzaman Chowdhury Javed and Gonoforum candidate Ujjal Bhowmik are vying for the parliamentary seat, which fell vacant after Javed's father Akhtaruzzaman Chowdhury Babu, an AL lawmaker, died on November 4 last year.
Javed, a former president of Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry, is believed to be the only heavyweight candidate as his rival, Ujjal Bhowmik, headmaster of Saint Martin Navy High School, bagged less than 1,000 votes in the 2008 national election.
The main opposition BNP has boycotted the election.
Meanwhile, the Gonoforum candidate has alleged that the AL campaigners are threatening him so that he withdraws from the election.
“The AL activists are removing my posters from different areas. They are hindering my campaign and giving threat to my campaign activists,†Ujjal told The Daily Star yesterday.
“I have filed a complaint with the Election Commission in this regard but I am yet to get any remedy.â€
Uzzal also alleged, “They [AL activists] tried to kidnap me from Nalapara in the port city on December 23 to refrain me from contesting the election, and now they are filling earth on my six-decimal land in Anwara upazila to build shops.
“Though informed, police are not taking actions,†he said.
Javed denied all these allegations and asked, “Do I have to give threats to a candidate to refrain him from contesting the election who just got some 500 votes in the last general election?†He also asked, “Why is he raising these allegations only two days before the poll?
“I think he was predetermined about raising these allegations. I have doubts about his intention.â€
Javed said he would feel better if there were more candidates but he is hopeful about his victory.
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