Zila parishad chairmen: 27 backed by AL elected unopposed
Twenty-seven Awami League-backed chairman candidates have been elected to zila parishads uncontested, which was six more than the number of unopposed winners in 2016 polls.
Ruling party chairman contenders for 34 other districts will have to face party dissidents as it failed to deter them. Party insiders said in 19 districts, AL nominees will compete against multiple rebel candidates.
Sixty-one districts are slated to go to the zila parishad (district council) elections on October 17.
SM Asaduzzaman, joint secretary of the Election Commission, yesterday said after the withdrawal of candidatures, there was only one candidate for chairman posts in 27 district councils. "All of them are elected unopposed."
According to the EC data, the 27 district councils where chairman candidates have been elected unopposed are: Cumilla, Kurigram, Gopalganj, Chapainawabganj, Jamalpur, Jhalakathi, Tangail, Thakurgaon, Dhaka, Naogaon, Narayanganj, Noakhali, Pabna, Pirojpur, Feni, Barguna, Barishal, Bagerhat, Bhola, Madaripur, Munshiganj, Moulvibazar, Laxmipur, Lalmonirhat, Shariatpur, Sirajganj and Sylhet.
Besides, 68 member hopefuls and 15 aspirants for member reserved for women in 61 district councils are also elected uncontested.
Ninety contenders are vying for the chairman posts in elections to the remaining 34 district councils, and 1,505 member hopefuls and 620 aspirants for member reserved for women in 61 district councils are contesting the local government body elections.
Over 63,000 elected representatives of union parishads, municipalities, upazilas and city corporations will exercise their voting rights and elect zila parishad chairmen.
As the BNP and other major political parties boycotted different tiers of local government polls, ruling AL leaders or its rebels won most local government elections. This made AL district level leaders, knowing victory is virtually guaranteed, desperate to get party support, according to party insiders.
But like the previous local body polls, the ruling AL also failed to manage party dissidents this time.
Repeated warnings of punitive actions such as expulsion, not getting nominations in the future, and not being elected for party posts, have so far failed to prevent AL leaders from vying against its nominees in polls.
To deter rebel candidates, the ruling party last year decided not to give nominations to leaders who contested elections against AL nominees.
But as per the party constitution adopted in 2016, any party leader contesting an election against party-nominated candidates would be expelled directly.
Asked about the reason of so many uncontested elections, Election Commissioner Md Alamgir declined to comment.
In the last elections to local government bodies like upazilas, municipalities and union parishads, the number of uncontested winners also increased compared to previous polls.