Bangladesh News

Influence of black money, uncertainty regarding Jamaat support, and confusion among party activists and supporters about whether to vote or not in Barisal City Corporation (BCC) election, resulted in BNP-led four-party alliance supported candidate Ahsan Habib Kamal’s outright defeat in Monday’s mayoral race, according to observers.

The final result of BCC mayoral race came as a surprise to city residents as Progressive Democratic Party leader Sharfuddin Ahmed Santu who contested as an independent candidate, bagged an enormous number of votes, beyond all imagination of the voters.

Although, Santu on Monday night said he visited the voters from door to door and has a history of always standing beside them, which are the reasons for getting such a huge number of votes, many voters expressed shock at the large number of votes he bagged.

Rejecting the unofficial result of the mayoral race, Santu yesterday demanded re-polling in six polling centres.

“My opponent Shawkat Hossain Hiron forced the officials to declare me defeated through illegal interference and bribery,” he said at a news briefing held in his residence.

He demanded cancellation of the result and said, “This result cannot be upheld as the result was altered in Barisal election office.”

“I will file a case against the election result. I want a re-vote. I don’t accept it. I have been made the loser through rigging of the election,” he told reporters.

But, Barisal election office yesterday evening declared Shawkat Hossain Hiron as the winner in the mayoral race there.

Santu was defeated by only a small margin after a neck and neck fight with Awami League (AL) backed Shawkat Hossain Hiron.

While talking to The Daily Star, different political leaders, socio-cultural activists and other voters said the result surprised them, as Santu who is well known as a big spender got about 20,000 votes more than Hiron’s expected electoral nemesis Ahsan Habib Kamal.

When asked about the unexpected turn of the bout, local BNP leaders said internal conflicts of the party played a key role in the defeat of Kamal, as another mayoral candidate also BNP leader Ebeydul Haque Chan siphoned off 19,626 votes.

Kamal contested in 2003 election also, bagging 20,248 votes, but was defeated by another BNP leader Mujbur Rahman Sarwar, who is currently in jail on charges of corruption. Later BNP expelled Kamal for violating party discipline.

Santu’s electoral security deposit in the 2001 national election in Barisal-2 constituency was confiscated as he failed to get the number of vote required to be eligible for a refund.

District BNP General Secretary General Nazrul Islam Razan told The Daily Star yesterday, “Voters and party workers did not take our participation in the election positively, and that is why we did not get expected votes.”

When asked about the large number of votes Santu got, he said, “I think black money might have helped him in getting the huge number of votes, but I’m not sure.”

Meanwhile, some BNP leaders hinted that Santu got tacit support from Jamaat although, the Islamist party formally endorsed Kamal.

On Monday night AL candidate Shawkat Hossain Hiron also expressed astonishment in finding out that he was facing a fight from Santu.

“Who is this umbrella [Santu's electoral symbol]? How did he bag such a huge number of votes when everybody knows that my fight is with Kamal?” Hiron wondered as he hinted that an ‘invisible quarter’ was backing Santu.

Santu, however, is very much in discussion locally, for his habit of spending. Several candidates earlier alleged that some of the candidates had been doling out money to buy votes.

Meanwhile, Enayet Pir Khan, once a 14-party candidate, who participated in the election this time around under the banner of Nagorik Parishad, also could not create any obstacle in the way of Hiron’s victory. According to the final count, Pir bagged only 2,114 votes, although he had gotten about 35,000 votes in the 2003 election as a 14-party nominee.