Election 2008Saifur-muhith Duel In Sylhet-1

The crux of the play is young voters

24 December 2008, 18:00 PM

Iqbal siddiquee, Sylhet

Saifur Rahman and AMA Muhith

Over 65,000 young voters, who got enrolled in the voters list for the first time may play the vital role in deciding the polls result in Sylhet-1, one of the constituencies considered important nationally. BNP stalwart former finance minister M Saifur Rahman and AL advisory committee member AMA Muhith, also a former finance minister, are again on the field to face each other. Saifur defeated his classmate Muhith in 2001 polls by over 40,000 votes. The giants are busy in their election campaign through different strategies at the end stage. BNP-led alliance while seeking vote for Saifur has been stressing on the development works implemented in the region especially in Sylhet. On the other hand, the grand alliance men point at corruption of BNP leaders in Sylhet region during the alliance rule. Muhith also alleged Saifur had plundered people's money and named a number of government establishments after himself. Muhith has pledges for making Sylhet an enlightened city, if voted to power. Saifur is also contesting in his home seat-Moulvibazar-3 (Moulvibazar sadar and Rajnagar) Besides, the importance of Sylhet-1 constituency goes high as people discuss, the winning party in the constituency goes to power. It happened since after the liberation. Those who were elected from this seat include, Dewan Farid Gazi of AL, Khondaker Abdul Malik of BNP, Humayun Rashid Chowdhury of AL and Saifur Rahman of BNP. The constituency has a total of 4,23,278 voters. It has got at least over 65,000 new voters in the delimitation this time. said the district election officer yesterday. Anwar Hossain, a student of MC College in the city got enrolled as a voter for the first time. "We have two seasoned candidates-Saifur and Muhith. I will have to choose between them considering their past, quality as well as experiences," he observed. Trader Abdul Hasib of Bandarbazar in the city feels Sylhet lacks a lot of facilities for long. None had yet been able to resolve the water stagnancy problem in the city even during the last decades. He said, the city people would have to consider the commitments as well as the capacity of the candidates, Hasib added. Schoolteacher Sanjana Khanam of the city's Chowkedekhi area said, "Choosing right person from two VIP candidates is tough. I will prefer the man who would stress on law and order and development."