Landmark polls in 3 city corporations today

Voting in landmark local elections for three city corporations in Dhaka and Chittagong takes place today (Tuesday) under a close watch by an army of observers, local and foreign.    
The people of Dhaka South and North City Corporations will be casting their votes in polls that was long overdue amid a lot of expectations that many of their long-lingering problems will be addressed by the would-be authorities.
Election to Chittagong City Corporation is also being held simultaneously, against the same political backdrop.    
The local-government polls came under global focus for coming as a peacemaker after government-opposition standoff and resultant nationwide turmoil over the national elections.   

   
Not only voters in Dhaka and Chittagong, the countrymen and the international community at large are keeping their eyes open towards the important polls.
According to the Election Commission (EC), a total of 16 candidates are eying the seat of mayor while 281 contesting 36 ward- councillor posts and 89 in the race for 12 reserved councillor seats for women in Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC).
Under the DNCC domain, a total of 2,345,374 voters -- 1,224,701 male and 1,120,673 female -- are expected to cast their vote in 1,093 polling centres to elect their representatives for next five years.
On the other hand, 20 candidates are vying for one mayoral chair, 391 aspirants for 57 ward councillors and 97 female candidates are in the race for 19 reserved councillor posts in Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC).
Under DSCC, a total of 1,813,449 voters -- 1,009,286 male and 861,467 female -- are expected to exercise their voting right in 889 polling centres to elect city father and councillors for the southern part of the metropolis.
Today's local elections have come as a respite for the people in the country after three months of political mayhem over the demand for a fresh parliamentary election under a neutral administration.
Immediately after the announcement of the election schedules, country's major political parties and alliances became enthusiastic and came up with their handpicked potential candidates for the battle of ballots.
City-dwellers have experienced a new dimension in the selection of candidates, especially for two parts of Dhaka City Corporation, as a number of new faces appeared for the electoral race.   
The expectations of the city-dwellers from their local-government bodies are, usually, high, in view of their problems of wide-ranging nature having been deteriorating in most areas that afflict their everyday life.
Taking those problems into account, the candidates for the mayoral and councillor posts in the country's most important local- government body -- city corporation -- made a plethora of pledges in their respective election manifestos and during their election campaigns, which came to an end on Monday midnight.
And all of them assured the voters of addressing the existing problems like traffic woes, ensuring better utility services, strengthening healthcare and educational facilities, upgrading roads, playgrounds and other physical infrastructures, improving law and order, ensuring better drainage facilities and waste management.
All the promises meant for making the mega city, which was dubbed recently as the second most unliveable city on earth by a prestigious foreign magazine, cleaner, well-planned and a liveable place.
But many voters, city-dwellers and experts see tough challenges ahead for the hopefuls to meet up such tall promises once they are elected under the existing framework and available resources of the city corporations.
According to them, without having effective coordination with other relevant agencies and departments, it would be a very difficult task for the would-be mayors and councillors to deliver on their pledges.
However, observers say, security issue remains a concern for voters and other stakeholders following recent spate of attacks on the motorcades of the BNP Chairperson during election campaigns and some candidates over the last several days.
At the same time, according to analysts, the sudden shift of the EC's decision over deployment of army before and after the elections also triggered fears among the candidates and voters in both the city corporations. This might affect the turnout of voters, they said.
When contacted, a senior DMP official said they had taken tight security arrangements for the elections "on the importance of the polling centres".
And a total of 1,429 polling centres out of 1,982 have been identified as 'sensitive' in Dhaka.
At the important polling centres, there will be 24 police and Ansar officials, including 12 armed persons, on duty while at general polling centres there will be 22 police and Ansar officials, including 10 armed persons, he said.
"Of the important centres, nearly 500 polling stations were identified as vulnerable to trouble where we have special focus to ensure fearless voting there," he said.  
Besides, two teams in each ward of the capital will be patrolling to ensure security of voters. At the same time, 31 reserved striking forces will add to the patrols.
And four control rooms will monitor the total election situation, he added.
Talking about the security measures, EC Secretary Sirajul Islam said around 80,000 members of the police, RAB, BGB, coastguard and ansar would be deployed in Dhaka and Chittagong cities on the election day.
He said, "Army would be available on the election day if returning officers think law and order has gone beyond control and army deployment is necessary."
If called, "troops would immediately move to the polling centres".
More than 100 foreign election observers from 15 countries will be watching the polls alongside the local observers and media men.    
The EC has already completed necessary preparations, including sending ballots and other electoral materials, to the polling stations for successfully conducting the polls.
The government earlier announced a public holiday for Tuesday (April 28) for government, non-government, semi-government and private organisations in Dhaka North and South city corporation areas and Chittagong City Corporation on the occasion of the polls.
Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) was established as Dacca Municipality on August 1, 1864. The first elected chairman was Ananda Chandra Roy. Prior to that, a Committee for the improvement of Dacca was formed in 1823. The Act of 1884 added the provision of elected representatives called commissioners.
In 1978, it gained status as Dhaka Municipal Corporation and it became Dhaka City Corporation in 1990. Until 1994, mayors had been appointed by the Government. The first elected mayor by popular vote took office in 1994.
The DCC was dissolved by the Local Government (City Corporation) Amendment Bill 2011 on November 29, 2011 and divided into DSCC and DNCC. Since then, the city corporations have been operated by two administrators appointed by the government.
Presently, the city corporations largely depend on government and foreign grants for carrying out various development works because of insufficient resources on their own.
Experts say unless and until the two city corporations find new sources of adequate volume of revenue generation, they might find it difficult to materialise even a fraction of the tall promises the mayoral candidates have made during electioneering.
Holding taxes, fixed property-transfer taxes, fees for new and renewal of trade licences, issuance of death and birth certificates, advertisement, bus terminals, commercial markets, community centres, entertainment tax for cinemas, theatres, exhibitions are the major heads of earnings for the city corporations.
The size of DNCC budget for fiscal year (FY) 2014-2015 is Tk 20.42 billion of which nearly Tk 8.17 billion has been projected as revenue income while Tk 11.03 billion has been shown as receipts from the government and foreign-aided projects.
On the other hand, a sum of Tk 15.66 billion has been announced for the DSCC for FY 2014-2015, of which nearly Tk 5.98 billion has been targeted as revenue earnings while Tk 8.84 billion as government and foreign grants.
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