Tomorrow’s elections in Cumilla City Corporation have appeared to be an acid test for the Election Commission (EC) as it is the first local-body polls under the new commission.

The EC has been putting its best efforts to hold the local body polls in a free, fair and credible manner to gain the confidence of all political parties so that they take part in the next general election without any hesitation.

Although Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) boycotted the Cumilla city polls, the main contest will be held between Awami League candidate Arfanul Haque Rifat and independent candidate Monirul Haque Sakku, locals said.

Despite few hours left for the voting, a tension has been prevailing in the area. Candidates were filing allegations against each other.

Meanwhile, the EC is busy taking preparations to ensure a level playing field and security for all.

As part of the move, the EC has issued notices to AL candidates and campaigners.

But, the EC was facing a helpless situation as it ‘cannot take any action’ against lawmaker AKM Bahauddin Bahar as he violated EC’s order and campaigned for the AL mayoral candidate in breach of the electoral code of conduct.

The lawmaker has come under the spotlight for refusing to comply with the EC order to leave his constituency. But, ‘legal loopholes' have tied the commission’s hands and prevented them from taking any further action.

Typically, a request from the commission is enough for a lawmaker, but the election regulator has no authority to punish them for failing to comply, EC sources said.

Admitting the incident, Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal said the commission did not take any action against the Cumilla lawmaker, other than ‘requesting’ him to leave the area.

“The commission has some powers, but they partially conflict with the current situation. It can scrap someone’s candidacy in some elections,” he said.

For the Cumilla election, the code of conduct clearly bars any government employee or affiliated person from staying in the constituency and taking part directly or indirectly in the election campaign for any candidate.

But the request of the EC should be ‘enough’ for an MP to leave a constituency, the CEC added.

Before announcing the schedule for Cumilla City Corporation (CCC) polls, experts forecasted that the city election will be a big challenge for the AL for its intra-party conflict which caused defeat for the party in the last two elections there and a litmus test for the EC in bringing confidence of political parties.

Although an election commissioner hinted at stopping election if any violence occurs in any polling centre during the voting.

However, locals cast doubt over the peaceful environment as Awami League is desperate to win while Sakku wants to secure a third consecutive win in his stronghold.

Although BNP is not participating in the polls directly, two leaders of the party take part in the race as independent candidates from two rival groups.

One group is led by Sakku while another by former BNP lawmaker Aminur Rashid Yeasin who has extended support to his brother-in-law Nizamuddin Kaiser.

Kaiser is the president of the Swechchasebak Dal of Cumilla city unit.

BNP leaders say Sakku, who was expelled from BNP for participating in the Cumilla city polls, may face tough battle in the mayoral this time as his opponent Rifat will put in all his efforts to win the polls, cashing in on intra-party feud of BNP’s local units.

In 2012, Sakku defeated veteran Awami League leader Afzal Khan by over 30,000 votes in the first CCC election, and his daughter Anjum Sultana Sima won in 2017 by a close margin of 10,000 votes.

Sima, now a member of parliament from a reserved seat, also sought nomination for contesting the CCC polls, but the AL picked Rifat as its candidate.

Locals and insiders say that over three decades of intra-party feud might cost AL candidate in the CCC polls if the AL high command fails to resolve the differences between two AL factions – followers of late Afzal Khan and the ruling party’s lawmaker AKM Bahauddin Bahar.

In the maiden CCC polls in 2012, Afzal ran for the mayoral post with AL ticket.

Bahar and his supporters did not join the election campaign. Afzal lost the polls to his nearest rival Sakku by over 30,000 votes.

Bahar won party ticket to contest the parliamentary polls in 2014. But Afzal fielded his son Masud Parvez Khan Imran to contest the election as an independent candidate. However, Imran lost to Bahar.

According to AL sources, in 2017 polls, Bahar lobbied the party’s central leaders for his aide Rifat while Afzal fought for his daughter Sima. The party picked Sima for then mayoral race.

Frustrated at this, Bahar's supporters refrained from campaigning for Sima and as a result, Sima lost to Sakku with a little margin.

As it is a challenge for holding a free and fair election, the EC has taken measures to ensure a level playing field for the candidates and holding a credible election.

Mayoral and councillor candidates passed a busy time as the election campaign ended midnight on Monday.

The EC has completed all necessary preparation to hold the polls in a free and fair manner using EVM.

Voting will be held at 105 polling centres in 27 wards from 8:00am to 4:00pm on 15 June.

There are five mayoral candidates in the Cumilla city corporation election along with 108 councillor candidates and 38 female councillor candidates for reserved seats. 

More than 6,000 members of law enforcement agencies would be deployed for maintaining law and order during the poll on June 15.

Border Guard Bangladesh patrol teams, the reserve force of police, the Rapid Action Battalion teams and the mobile courts will be on the ground time during the time of the election.

On the day of the polls, 65 police checkpoints and 10 pocket teams will be deployed at the entrances of the city to maintain law and order, sources said.

There are already 21 police patrol teams and 15 checkpoints in the city.