An unusual contest in Subarnachar

The upazila chairman election in Noakhali's Subarnachar today is going to be a battle of ballots between a veteran Awami League leader and a young one.

Incumbent upazila Chairman AHM Khairul Anam Chowdhury Salim, also three-time president of Noakhali district AL, is seeking another term. He will fight against 26-year-old Atahar Ishraq Sabab Chowdhury, son of Noakhali-4 (Sadar-Subarnachar) lawmaker Ekramul Karim Chowdhury.

The leaders and activists of Noakhali district AL and its affiliated organisations have virtually been divided into two groups over the election.

The district AL leaders have been campaigning for Khairul, aged about 75, while the followers of Ekramul, including five AL-backed union parishad chairmen out of eight unions in Subarnachar up coazila, are backing Sabab, said party sources.

Shabab had been mired in different controversial activities. In June 2018, he was allegedly involved in a hit and run incident near Mohakhali flyover in the capital where a man was run over and killed by the luxury SUV he was driving, according to witnesses.

In 2020, he rammed a police patrol van with his car in Chattogram city's Lalkhan Bazar area.

Ekramul is desperate to get his son elected as he is worried that he may lose the grip on the local AL politics if his son is beaten, according to locals.

However, the district AL is desperate to get Khairul elected as they want to break the 16-year absolute dominance of the lawmaker in local politics, party leaders said.

A total of 225,188 voters are eligible to cast their ballots in today's polls in Subarnachar upazila.