Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

Despite the government’s assertions to the contrary, the recent arrest of an Arsa chief’s brother from a Rohingya camp in Cox’s Bazar strongly hints atthe insurgent group’s presence inside the refugee camps, residents and experts said.

Around 6,000 Rohingyas should be evacuated from two camps in Cox’s Bazar to avert casualties as they are living on hilly slopes that are vulnerable to landslides, said a government report.

The year was 1973. A popular Narayanganj labour leader Ali Ahmed Chunka went to meet Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. He wanted to contest in the first-ever Narayanganj municipality polls under the symbol boat.

Nearly 50 years after the constitution prescribed enacting a specific law for forming Election Commission, the government has finally approved the draft of a law to appoint the chief election commissioner and other commissioners through a search committee.

Selina Hayat Ivy’s personal charisma as well as development activities carried out in Narayanganj city during her two successive tenures in the post of mayor are the key reasons behind her victory in Sunday’s polls.

Narayanganj goes to polls today to pick its mayor and 36 councillors, in an election that can be expected to be a departure from the recent violence-ridden voting for Union Parishad seats.

With the Narayanganj city polls campaign ending at midnight tonight, major mayoral candidates Selina Hayat Ivy and Taimur Alam Khandakar are making last-minute efforts to woo women and first-time voters who may make the difference.

With the Narayanganj city polls only two days away, voters fear there may be chaos on election day over taking control of polling centres by supporters of some ward councillor candidates.

Electioneering in the Narayanganj city polls has heated up as the two major mayor hopefuls have accused each other of foiling the peaceful election atmosphere.

Ruling Awami League lawmaker Shamim Osman finally broke his silence and asked AL leaders and activists in Narayanganj to work in favour of Selina Hayat Ivy, the party’s mayor candidate in the January 16 city polls.

Although the atmosphere surrounding the Narayanganj city polls is still peaceful, locals believe candidates will face a big challenge maintaining it as internal conflicts between parties and leaders have started coming to light.

Even though the BNP’s official stance is that it is yet to decide if it will run in the 2023 national polls, its focus for this year is to complete the party reorganising process and ready itself for the elections.

With just one week left for the Narayanganj City Corporation election, the political equations for the two major mayor contenders remain unclear.

The government has instructed Covid-19 patients to undergo treatment in their district hospitals as it issued a set of directives to combat the recent spike in coronavirus infections and deaths.

Awami League mayor nominee Selina Hayat Ivy in her re-election campaign is highlighting her development activities while her main rival, independent runner and BNP leader Taimur Alam Khandakar, is trying to cash in on the anti-government sentiment by mobilising support from all opposition parties.

The streets were still quite empty and the sun was up trying to chase away the winter chill. Some friends, all in their 60s, were sipping tea at the Bose Cabin in Narayanganj city.

Awami League candidate Selina Hayat Ivy said she wants to woo voters with new promises and ward off smear campaigns launched allegedly by her rival candidates.

Independent candidate Taimur Alam Khandakar said he wants to make Narayanganj a pro-people city by reducing the tax burden on residents and freeing the city corporation office from the “grip of contractors”.

After a somewhat uneventful period amid the pandemic, politics began heating up in the latter part of 2021 over the Union Parishad polls and the formation of the Election Commission.

Amid the Covid-19 pandemic raging throughout the best part of 2021, Bangladesh had to tackle myriad challenges to ensure vaccines for its citizens.