SCC Election : Awami League 9 candidates are in the field

Sylhet City Corporation (SCC) polling will be held on June 21. The schedule of city elections was announced at the Election Commission meeting in Dhaka on April 3. Meanwhile, 9 candidates of Awami League are active in the field. Among them are metropolitan Awami League committee members, businessmen and expatriates. After the announcement of the schedule, their activity increased.

Awami League nominees are keeping in touch with the party's high command. Besides, they stay close to voters through political and social activities. Several aspirants from Jatiya Party have pulled poster banners across the city. Awami League candidate Badr Uddin Ahmad Kamran was defeated by BNP candidate Ariful Haque Chowdhury in 2018 election. It is known from various sources that he will be a candidate this time too. However, BNP leaders are silent on this matter.

Sylhet City Corporation Elections will be conducted in EVMs. Each center will have CCTV cameras. The officers will inform the commission through the tab about the updated information of polling. Polling will continue continuously from 8 am to 4 pm. EC's own officers will act as returning officers in city elections. According to the schedule, nomination papers can be submitted till May 23 in Sylhet City Corporation elections, nomination papers can be withdrawn between May 25 and June 1.

Over the past 2-3 weeks, the electoral field has heated up. The post of Mayor of Sylhet City Corporation was held by Awami League for a long time. Late Badr Uddin Ahmad Kamran was the trust of the party then. Then it got lost due to various internal problems in the party. Awami League is looking for a replacement for late Badr Uddin Ahmad Kamran for the post of mayor. Candidates say that the decision of the Awami League president and the election board of the party will really tell who is the helmsman of the boat. However, the candidates say that whoever gets the boat in the party's decision will work for him. Awami League nominees have elected one or two councilor positions, but none of the heavyweight nominees have experience of participating in local elections.

Meanwhile, the current mayor Ariful Haque Chowdhury is a member of BNP, so the name of any other candidate is not being heard. Nasim Hossain, President of Sylhet Metropolitan BNP, said that the party will work for the mayoral candidate if the party decides. Since BNP is the largest democratic party in the country, it is natural that BNP candidates will compete in any free and fair election.

Meanwhile, a source close to Mayor Arif says that Ariful Haque Chowdhury will participate in the election. Even if BNP does not participate, he can be a candidate for the civic committee. Apart from this, Ariful Haque Chowdhury has also become a member of the district BNP so that he can continue politics even if he does not participate in the city corporation elections. He is also likely to contest from Sylhet-3 seat. Sylhet City Corporation Mayor Ariful Haque Chowdhury was contacted in this regard on April 2 and he said that he is sick due to the installation of multiple rings in his heart. He promised to open up about this later after his visit to India and London. Currently, Ariful Haque Chowdhury is on a visit to London. Many are calling his visit a meeting with Tariq Rahman.

Apart from this, businessman and new leader of Jatiya Party Nurul Islam Babul is seeking nomination from Jatiya Party. However, several candidates from Jatiya Party have pulled poster banners across the city.

Awami League nominees are Sylhet Metropolitan Awami League Vice President Asad Uddin Ahmad, General Secretary Prof. Zakir Hossain, Joint Secretary ATMA Hasan Zebul, Organizational Secretary and son of former Mayor Badr Uddin Ahmad Kamran. Arman Ahmed Shiplu, expatriate Awami League leader Anwaruzzaman Chowdhury, businessman and football organizer Mahiuddin Ahmad Salim, former councilor Abdul Khaliq, CSIC councilor Azadur Rahman Azad, former central organizing secretary of Awami League Advocate Misbah Uddin Siraj.

Meanwhile, Anwaruzzaman Chowdhury's followers are claiming that he has received a green signal from the High Command as a mayoral candidate. He has also started working at the field level. After returning home from the UK, he is maintaining contact with the party leaders and is exchanging views with various social organizations.

Anwaruzzaman Chowdhury claimed that he has become a candidate with the blessings of the party chief and said that party president Sheikh Hasina has ordered him to work for Sylhet. Awami League president Sheikh Hasina will work to advance Sylhet if she is nominated for the post of mayor in Sylhet with the boat symbol. Eliminate all the problems of Sylhet and turn it into an attractive city in the world.

Sylhet City Corporation's former mayor Badr Uddin Ahmad Kamran's son, the organizing secretary of the metropolitan Awami League. Armaan Ahmad Shiplu wants to occupy the place left by his father in Nagar Bhaban. He expressed his determination to serve the people of Sylhet by completing the unfinished work of his father, who cherished the ideals of Bangabandhu all his life. Dr. Shiplu said, he saw the development of Sylhet very closely. The experience taken from the father will be useful in the development of Sylhet.

Meanwhile, ATMA Hasan Zebul, who came to the leadership of Awami League from Chhatra League, is a candidate for party nomination. Despite facing jail, oppression and hulia because of politics, he is clinging to the flag of Awami League. In addition to maintaining close contact with the party's grassroots leaders and activists, he is working for the welfare of the common people in Oligli of the city through Zebul Associates established in his own name.

Awami League's nominee for mayor ATMA Hasan Zebul said, I was in the field in all the movements and struggles after 75. I was close to the people. I worked for the boat by risking my life in every election. My center has never lost a boat. I will definitely choose if the party nominates. If I don't get the nomination, I will work for the boat.

Businessman and BAFUF (Bangladesh Football Federation) member Mahiuddin Ahmad Salim is also a candidate for boat nomination like last year. He said, although I am not directly involved in politics, I am a sports organizer and businessman. If the Prime Minister wants, he can nominate an organizer and a businessman for the post of mayor in Sylhet like Dhaka. And in this case I am hopeful to get the nomination. Because Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina asked me to go to work in view of the demands of the football organizers at an event in 2018. If nominated for the boat symbol, Sylhet will be developed as a sight.

Apart from this, Sylhet Metropolitan Awami League Vice President Asad Uddin Ahmad, General Secretary Professor Zakir Hossain, former Central Organizing Secretary Michbah Uddin Siraj are also in discussion. Besides, the followers of Sisic Councilor Azadur Rahman Azad are demanding online and poster banners that they want Azad to be the candidate of Awami League for the post of mayor like in the last election. Apart from this, the former councilor of CSIC announced in February that Abdul Khalek, a brave freedom fighter, is a candidate for the nomination of Awami League for the post of mayor.

Meanwhile, BNP does not seem to be running around the Sylhet City Corporation elections. BNP leaders and activists said that Ariful Haque Chowdhury will be a single candidate if the BNP goes to the polls this time. They said that if BNP does not go to the election, then the decision of the election is the sole responsibility of Arif.

Meanwhile, the posters of businessman Nurul Islam Babul, who is a candidate for the plow symbol of Jatiya Party in the Sylhet City Corporation elections, have been pasted at various corners of the city.

Sylhet Municipality was formed in 1878. It was upgraded to a City Corporation on 28 July 2002. On August 31, 2021, the boundaries of Sylhet City Corporation were expanded to include Tukerbazar, Khadimnagar, Khadimpara and Tooltikor Unions of Sylhet Sadar Upazila and Kuchai, Barikandi and Tetli Unions of Dakshin Surma Upazila. Currently Sylhet City Corporation has an area of 79.50 square kilometers.

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