In Bangladesh, the first general election was held in 1973. Over the years, several democratic reforms have taken place in this country.
Despite these electoral reforms that helped expand voting access to people, more than 50,000 residents of Narayanpur union in Chandpur’s Matlab South upazila remain disenfranchised for the past two decades.
The reason — a pending court case that has stalled all development works in the union, thus putting a big question mark on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s ambitious ‘Villages will become cities’ initiative in the area.
According to the district administration, the government declared Narayanpur union a municipality in 2010 through a gazette notification. Then Home Minister Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir unveiled the municipality and an administrator was appointed for three months.
Later, land demarcation complexities arose and a case was filed in a higher court of law, eventually bringing the daily activities of the municipality to a halt. It has been 12 years since but the case has seen no progress.
Prior to the filing of the case, Narayanpur saw no elections for seven years. As a result, the residents of Narayanpur haven’t been able to cast their ballots for more than 19 years now.
Narayanpur is not only home to these 50,000 residents but the 9.2 sq km area has many important educational institutions, including degree colleges.
Abu Jaher Bhuiyan, upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) of Matlab South, said that the last time the general election took place in Narayanpur was in 2003.
“The Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives (LGRD) declared Narayanpur a municipality in 2010, and the then UNO was appointed as the administrator of the municipality on July 15 of the same year,” he said.
But the festive environment suddenly took a U-turn when then chairman of Narayanpur union parishad Jahirul Mostofa Talukder filed a writ petition in the court challenging the legality of the municipality. “Since then, no election has taken place in the area,” said Jaher.
Tofayel Hossain, Chandpur district election officer, however, said that they’re gearing up to hold elections in Narayanpur.
“According to the old records, the number of voters in Narayanpur is 32,017, including 15,196 women. Once the court case is over, there will be a new voters’ list and the number of voters will also increase,” Tofayel said.
Tofayel said that the court case can be easily dealt with if the LGRD Ministry comes forward to resolve the crisis. “Residents of Chengerchar municipality in Matlab North upazila faced similar problems. But the LGRD Ministry played a key role in diffusing the crisis.”
Locals, however, blamed the authorities for the mess. “We want to see the implementation of the Prime Minister’s ‘Villages will become cities’ scheme in Narayanpur,” said Aroti Rani, a school teacher.
