TA Panna, Roving Correspondent

Ahead of the Ishwardi Upazila Parishad elections to be held on May 29, the candidates contesting for the post of chairman, vice chairman and female vice chairman are campaigning.

As the day of election is approaching, they are spending more and more busy time in various campaigns. From morning to late night. Candidates are running from one end of the upazila to the other. Ahead of the elections, there is no interest among the BNP and the general voters, but the anxiety among the leaders and workers of the ruling party is increasing. So they are going door to door with their respective candidates.

As there is no party symbol, 3 candidates are contesting for the post of Chairman in Iswardi Upazila Parishad elections. They are the several times elected chairman of No. 1 Sara Union Parishad Emdadul Haque Rana Sardar (pineapple symbol), Upazila Awami League general secretary Alhaj Abul Kalam Azad Mintu (motorcycle symbol) and Jahangir Alam Siddiqui (horse symbol).

Emdadul Haque Rana Sardar of pineapple symbol and Abul Kalam Azad Mintu of motorcycle symbol are active in campaigning for the post of chairman, so many people are commenting that there is a fight between them. Jahangir Alam Siddiqui's campaign for the horse symbol is going on quietly.

Awami League, Jubo League, Chhatra League, Sramik League, Women Awami League and Volunteers League are unitedly campaigning along with distribution of leaflets on behalf of the pineapple symbol chairman candidate Emdadul Haque Rana Sardar.

Votes are being sought in favor of the pineapple symbol chairman candidate Emdadul Haque Rana Sardar through large road meetings and exchange meetings in different areas every day. On the other hand, former mayor Abul Kalam Azad Mintu, the chairman candidate of motorcycle symbol, is going from door to door asking for non-stop votes from morning till late night along with his party's activists and supporters. He is asking for votes with various promises regarding development.

However, the influential Awami League leaders who are very close to the chairman candidate Abul Kalam Azad Mintu are publicly campaigning for Anaras and commenting on various activities against Mintu. Due to these reasons, many people commented that there is a lot of speed in passing the electoral process. On the other hand, many of the voters told the journalists that activists supported by Mintu also continued to comment on various actions against Emdadul Haque Rana. On the other hand, 4 candidates are contesting for the post of female vice chairman.

They are District Awami League Women Affairs Secretary and former Women Vice Chairman Mahjebin Shirin Pia (football symbol), current Women Vice Chairman Atia Ferdous Kakali (jug symbol), freedom fighter daughter Sohana Parveen Runa (sewing machine) and Parveen Khatun (duck symbol).

On the other hand, 7 candidates are contesting for the post of male vice chairman. They are the current Vice Chairman Abdus Salam Khan (Mike), Saiful Islam Babu Mondal (Cashma), Ariful Islam Liton (Tubewell), former Zilla Parishad member Safiul Alam Biswas (Lock), Abdur Rahman Milan (Aircraft), Mehdi Hasan Likhan Molla ( Electric Tiger) and Abdul Bari (Tia). Ishwardi has become a poster city for the election. It is known that Ishwardi upazila consists of 1 municipality and 7 union parishads. The total number of voters of this upazila is 2 lakh 73 thousand 168 people. Among them 1 lakh 35 thousand 506 female voters and 1 lakh 37 thousand 659 male voters and 3 hijras