The defeat of the Awami League-backed mayoral candidate Ajmat Ullah Khan at yesterday's Gazipur City Corporation polls has left the ruling party leaders stunned into silence.

This is in contrast to their earlier expressions of optimism about the outcome of the election. They had been enthusiastic throughout - from the beginning of the campaign to the end of the voting - but the enthusiasm began to wane as the results started pouring in.

Following its humiliating defeat at the June 15 elections to four city corporations, the Awami League wanted to come up with a strong response in the Gazipur polls. It needed to win the battle here to reclaim some of the ground it had lost. It left no stone unturned to ensure a victory.

It compelled its rebel candidate Jahangir Alam, who had emerged as a factor in the polls, to quit the race in favour of Ajmat. The party tried to portray its leaders as pro-Islamic and its leaders in Gazipur tried to counter the religious propaganda against them.

Even at the last moment, the Awami League managed to get Jatiya Party chief HM Ershad to support Aj mat.

But all its efforts seemed turned out to have been in vain.

In the early hours of today, very few Awami League leaders were reachable for comments. Upset, many of them left the Awami League district office by 9:00pm. The Daily Star tried to contact at least 10 local leaders over the phone but none of them picked up the call.

Contacted, Awami League Joint General Secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif said the party would come up with a formal reaction today.

Awami League leader AKM Mozammel Huq, election coordinator for Ajmat, termed the results unexpected.

"The religion card has influenced national politics. We will analyse all these factors in the future," he said.

Party presidium member Obaidul Quader blamed organisational weakness, behaviour of party men, and local and national issues for the defeat.

He said people do not remember the successes of a government but they do remember manners and behaviour of ruling party leaders and workers.

Although the defeat at the Gazipur city polls has put the Awami League in an awkward situation, it will give the party a chance to do what is needed and be successful at the general elections, QuadertoldThe Daily Star at Black Rose Hotel, where around 50 leaders of the Awami League and its front organisations were holding meetings regularly on the Gazipur city polls.

Meanwhile, Awami League leaders yesterday alleged that the BNP in a planned way was trying to make the Gazipur City Corporation polls controversial.

"As with the four city corporation polls, the BNP raised allegations of vote rigging to say that free and fair elections were not possible under the government," said Awami League leader Tofail Ahmed at a press briefing at the party chiefs political office around 2:00pm.

A few hours after his briefing, party Joint General Secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif alleged that the opposition was trying to "misguide" people through spreading falsehood about the Gazipur city polls.

"All previous elections held under this government's tenure were free and fair and people realised that. The BNP has intentionally resorted to falsehood over the election to confuse people, "he said.

The lights were out at the Awami Lea