Over 400 ruling Awami League leaders, including at least 25 incumbent lawmakers who were denied party nominations, have submitted their nominations to contest the January 7 general election as independent candidates.
According to the Election Commission, over 2,700 candidates, including 750 independent aspirants, and nominees from 30 registered political parties, have submitted nomination papers to contest the polls.
Among the independent candidates, at least 400 are involved with the ruling party, which has taken a liberal position against the party’s rebel candidates to ensure none of its nominees pass uncontested, as opposed to the 2014 general election.
AL declared the names of its candidates for 298 Jatiya Sangsad constituencies on November 26, dropping 71 incumbent lawmakers from the list.
Among the discarded AL lawmakers, 25 filed nomination papers by Thursday, the last date for filing nomination papers with the EC to contest the polls against the party-nominated candidates as independent candidates.
They are Iqbal Hossain Sabuj of Gazipur-3, Mohammad Shahiduzzaman of Meherpur-2, Habibe Millat of Sirajganj-2, Enamul Haque of Rajshahi-4, Mansur Rahman of Rajshahi-5, Subid Ali Bhuiyan of Cumilla-1, Nazim Uddin Ahmed of Mymensingh-3, Anwarul Abedin Khan of Mymensingh-9, Jafar Alam of Cox’s Bazar-1, Moazzem Hossain Ratan of Sunamganj-1, Joya Sengupta of Sunamganj-2, Didarul Alam of Chattogram-4, Shamsul Haque Chowdhury of Chattogram-12, Mazharul Haque Prodhan of Panchagarh-1, Abdul Wadud of Chapainawabganj-3, Ranajit Kumar Roy of Jashore-4, Ayesha Ferdous of Noakhali-6, Abdul Majid Khan of Habiganj-2, Abdur Rauf of Kushtia-4, Mir Mushtaque Ahmed of Satkhira-2, Zakir Hossain of Kurigram-4, Murad Hasan of Jamalpur-4, Salim Uddin Tarafder of Naogaon-3, Mohammad Ebadul Karim of Brahmanbaria-5 and Shafiqul Azam Khan of Jhenaidah-3.
In a meeting with party nomination seekers on November 26, AL president and prime minister Sheikh Hasina instructed the candidates of her party to field ‘dummy candidates’ in their respective constituencies in the upcoming parliamentary elections.
Based on her instructions, many leaders of the party have announced their candidature as independent candidates, even though they have not received official party nominations.
Election experts said that in various elections in Bangladesh, discarded party leaders participated as ‘rebel candidates’ and sometimes won by defeating party nominees.
There were many instances of rebel candidates splitting the party’s vote bank, which allowed a rival party to win the seat.
In such situations, parties often take various disciplinary actions against rebel candidates, said election experts.
But unlike past occasions, the Awami League high-ups are encouraging party leaders to contest as independent candidates instead of preventing them, and that too in an election as important as the parliamentary election, they observed.
‘The Awami League faced widespread criticism in 2014 after many of its candidates were elected unopposed. The party is now allowing its leaders to go against official candidates to avoid a similar situation,’ said Badiul Alam Majumdar, secretary of civil society group Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik, better known as Shujan.
Several political parties, including the main opposition BNP, boycotted the elections in 2014 to protest the abolition of the caretaker government from the constitution.
As a result, the Awami League and its allies were elected unopposed in more than half of the seats.
Major opposition parties, including the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, are not also contesting the polls this time under the partisan government.
‘Awami League’s expectation is that the presence of independent candidates will increase voter participation in the election, though it will not give voters a chance to vote for the candidate of their choice,’ said Badiul.
He also feared that the presence of so many ruling party leaders in the vote might also cause violence due to intra-party conflict.
‘In the last Union Parishad elections, we saw that dozens of people lost their lives in violence between the Awami League and its rebel candidates,’ Badiul observed.
Election expert Tofail Ahmed observed that there were many strong candidates against the party’s official candidates.
He said it would increase the risk of electoral violence, particularly intra-party clashes.
He said that such a move by the AL might put the country in a violent situation.
New Age correspondent in Shariatpur said that at least 10 people, including three pedestrians, were injured in a clash between supporters of the Awami League candidate for Shariatpur-2 constituency, AKM Enamul Hoque Shameem, and independent candidate Khaled Shawkat Ali.
Khaled is a presidium member of the Juba League, the youth wing of the Awami League.
The supporters of the two candidates were engaged in chase and counter-chase, threw brickbats at each other, and exploded many cocktails, the correspondent reported, quoting witnesses.
The injured were admitted to the Naria Upazila Health Complex.
New Age
