Selina Hayat Ivy, one of the three high profile candidates in the Narayanganj City Corporation election, on Sunday faced the wrath of Shamim Osman, the AL-backed candidate and his men.
When Ivy was coming out of a television programme at Narayanganj club, Liton Saha, a man of Shamim Osman, asked Ivy how long she and her father, Ali Ahmed Chunka, were involved in politics with the Bangladesh Awami League, according to an account of witnesses.
In response to Liton’s remarks, Ivy and her supporters locked into a noisy altercation with him while some of Shamim’s men joined him.
At one stage, Shamim Osman came to the scene and tried to calm down his men while Ivy left the place along with her followers to avoid any untoward incident before the election.
A private television channel had organised a debate between the three mayoral candidates— Shamim Osman, the ruling Awami League candidate, Ivy, also the vice-president of AL city unit, and opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party-backed candidate Taimur Alam Khandoker.
Meanwhile, Shamim Osman, during the time of a break of another TV programme, asked Ivy to stop talking, saying ‘shut up’ and in reply Ivy also asked him to shut up.
The incident happened at the time of a break in the middle of a live debate between the three mayoral candidates organised by a private Satellite television channel from Narayanganj Press Club on Sunday night.
The altercation continued between Shamim and Ivy and at one stage Shamim Osman shouted saying ‘shut up’ and in reply, Ivy also said, ‘You shut up, Mr Shamim Osman’, according to an account of the witnesses.
Meanwhile, Selina Hayat Ivy, whom the AL refused to back in the polls, wrote to the Election Commission on Monday asking it to take necessary measures to ensure presence of army troops in and around every polling station in the city on the polling day.
‘The history of Narayanganj is very dangerous. We have repeatedly experienced how the terrorists snatched away the voting rights of the people of the area. Votes were robbed by snatching away the ballot boxes,’ Ivy expressed her worry in the letter to the commission.
‘Against this backdrop, we are requesting you to ensure the presence of army troops in and around the polling stations to guard against vote robbery,’ said the letter signed by her chief election agent, Anwar Hossain, also the president of Narayanganj city AL.
Ivy, in another letter, asked the commission to change its decision with regard to using the electronic voting machines.
‘Illiterate and elderly voters will take much time to cast their votes through the EVM. So, we are calling on the commission to use the EVM only in the Wards having small number of voters,’ the letter said.
In another letter to the commission, Ivy asked the commission to investigate into an incident of vandalising the idols of Hindu community.
‘A vested quarter on Sunday vandalised statues of different goddesses of Hindu community in Baburail temple to destroy communal harmony in the city ahead of the polls,’ the letter said.
Ivy demanded exemplary punishment to those involved in such heinous act.
Earlier on Sunday, at a views exchange meeting with the chief election commissioner, ATM Shamsul Huda, Shamim Osman hinted that supporters of Ivy might have carried out the vandalism.
Speaking on the occasion, Ivy asked the CEC to take necessary measures to stop ‘propaganda’ against her, alleging that Shamim Osman was falsely accusing her of vandalism.
Selina Hayat Ivy conducted her election campaign accompanying the local AL leaders while central leaders of ruling AL and main opposition BNP conducted campaign in different parts of the city in favour of their respective candidates—Shamim Osman and Taimur Alam Khandoker.
Meanwhile, a new civic forum called ‘Sammilito Nagarik Forum’ was floated on Monday under the leadership of district AL convener SM Akram to work in favour of Selina Hayat Ivy in the mayoral election slated for October 30.
Source: newagebd.com/newspaper1
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