Joy predicts AL’s landslide victory in Dhaka city polls

Bangladesh Prime Minister’s Information and communications technology (ICT) Affairs Adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy has predicted a landslide victory for the ruling Awami League party candidates in the Dhaka North and South City Corporation elections scheduled to be held on Saturday as he quotes an opinion poll.

“The polling was conducted by a mock ballot, so that neither the enumerator nor we know who voted for whom,” he wrote in a post shared on his verified Facebook page on Thursday.

He said they have found this to be the most accurate method of polling. “People are not afraid to select any candidate. Those who still don’t choose are the ones unlikely to vote since no election has 100% turnout. The margin of error is +/-3%.”

Referring to the opinion poll, Joy, also the son of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, said the ruling party’s candidate in the North, Atiqul Islam, is expected to get the mandate of 50.7 percent voters.

His rival the BNP’s Tabith Awal is forecast to draw only 17.4 percent of the votes.

In the South, Awami League candidate Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh is predicted to bag 54.3 percent votes.

The BNP candidate, Ishraque Hossain, may get 18.7 percent votes, according to the opinion poll.

“It is simply not possible for any campaign to swing the vote more than 10%, especially in a month. In either case, these elections will not just be a landslide for the Awami League. They will be a walkover,” Joy wrote.

He said they polled 1,301 people in the North and 1,245 people in the South.

People were selected through random sampling from the voters list and then polled in person, according to him.

Joy also said the opinion poll was conducted when the candidates were first announced “so the actual results will vary a little”.

Kamruzzaman