Selina Hayat Ivy, who has registered a hat-trick as the Narayanganj City Corporation Mayor, on Saturday said that she won the election amid a four-pronged conspiracy hatched by vested quarters.
Ivy made the disclosure while speaking at a virtual dialogue programme titled “Representative Election Process and Experience’ organised by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).
“The entire NCC election was shrouded by the conspiracies and I had to work amid a four-pronged conspiracy. But, despite the conspiracy, I was able to win the election because of the trust and love of the people to me”, said the country’s first female city mayor.
Planning Minister MA Mannan, CPD Chairman Prof Rehman Sobhan, Citizens for Good Governance (Sujan) Badiul Alam Majumder, local government expert Tofail Ahmed, former Election Commissioner Sakhawat Hossain, lawmakers Rashed Khan Menon and Aroma Dutt, among others, spoke on the occasion.
Held on January 16, Ivy won the election with ‘Boat’ symbol by a huge margin. According to the Election Commission, Ivy secured a total of 1, 69,198 votes while her nearest rival, independent candidate Taimur Alam Khandakar bagged 92,166 votes.
NCC Mayor Ivy said, "Although I have been elected as the NCC mayor for three consecutive terms, but this year’s election was very difficult. The flavors of all those three elections were different to each other. I was not out of conspiracy in any election. But, I have been able to overcome all the obstacles because of love of the people and their faith in me.”
Without mentioning any name but pointing finger at Narayanganj lawmaker Shamim Osman, Ivy said, “I have to face various obstacles. Attempts were made to kill me several times. But I never tried to maintain any gang. I have faith in my people. My only aim is to work for their welfare and I have never taken benefit from anybody.”
She also mentioned that there are some internal problems in Narayanganj, which is known to all.
“I hope, all the problems would be solved in the near future”, she said.