The ruling Awami League plunges into chaos with more than 400 leaders of the party contesting against its 303 official nominated candidates for 300 seats amidst confusion over seat sharing with its allies in the next general election.
Many independent AL candidates claimed they were contesting the elections only to win and not to contest as a dummy.
The party said that everything would be clear by December 16 about the seat sharing with the allies while the partners kept demanding for resolving the issue to end the confusion.
Many independent AL candidates and central leaders feared that it would trigger violence and factional clash before and during the polling day.
Pabna district AL vice-president Azizul Huq Arzu, also a former lawmaker for Pabna 2 in the 10th parliament, is contesting election for the seat as an independent candidate.
He feared election manipulation and intimidation.
‘I am contesting the polls only for winning and nothing else. If the election is free and fair, I will be elected. Most of the union parishad chairmen, upazila vice-chairman and other representatives are supporting me,’ he said.
He also feared clashes in the election.
Incumbent lawmaker for the seat Ahmed Firoz Kabir, also the official AL candidate, said that many public representatives were now favouring Azizul but they would not sustain in the field at the end.
‘I will not use the administration and police in my favour. The election would be completely free and fair and I will win in the election,’ he added.
Incumbent AL lawmaker for Sunamganj-2 Jaya Sengupta is contesting the polls as an independent candidate.
‘My late husband Suranjit Sengupta had been a lawmaker for the constituency for 45 years. The seat is very close to our heart. Why I will contest for the seat only as dummy candidate? I am contesting the polls only for winning. The people of the area want us unconditionally,’ she said.
At a press conference on Saturday, AL general secretary Obaidul Quader termed ‘a beauty of democracy’ the participation of so many AL leaders in the election as independent candidates against the official party candidates.
‘If any independent candidate moves forward leaving the heavyweight candidate behind, we cannot create obstacle to them. Democracy is a competition. We conside the candidate as only a candidate,’ he added.
AL president and prime minister Sheikh Hasina directed the party leaders to encourage dummy candidates so that no one could win uncontested.
Several AL leaders told New Age that they feared clashes and violence ahead of the polls and during the polls.
They said that it would lead to increase in chaos in the party.
At least 10 people, including three pedestrians, were injured in a clash between supporters of the official AL candidate for Shariatpur 2, AKM Enamul Hoque Shameem, and independent AL candidate Khaled Shawkat Ali on Thursday night.
Khaled is a presidium member of the Bangladesh Awami 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 AL candidate said that the independent candidates were putting blame on him after exploding bombs.
Police officers, however, said that both groups exploded crude bombs in the incident.
AL general secretary Quader said that the Election Commission had to take action for any violence or chaos centring the national elections as it is now their responsibility.
‘We have confidence in the decision of the election commission,’ he added.
Former AL lawmaker for Kusthia 4 Abdur Rauf, also an AL Kusthia district unit member who is now contesting as an independent candidate, claimed that he would get 90-95 per cent votes.
‘I am contesting the election following the directives of prime minister Sheikh Hasina and party general secretary Obaidul Quader. People will not see the symbol and they would cast vote for me,’ he added.
Incumbent Kusthia 4 lawmaker, also official AL candidate for the constituency Selim Altaf George said that Abdur Rauf never got more than 20,000-22,000 votes as he had taken part in several elections independently.
The tensions also increased over seat sharing with the allies as the Awami League was yet to fix the issue.
AL ally Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal–Jasod president Hasanul Haq Inu told New Age that they were yet to fix the seat sharing issue.
‘Once the seat sharing issue is resolved, the tension and confusion among the partners would end. I spoke to alliance coordinator Amu Bhai [AL advisory council member Amir Hossain Amu] and he assured me that it would be finalised holding a meeting at any time after December 5,’ he added.
Rashed Khan Menon, president of the Workers Party of Bangladesh, another partner of the alliance, said that he knew nothing about the seat sharing.
The AL-led alliance was formed in 2005 and came to power for three consecutive terms in 2009, 2014 and 2018.
A third of the AL-led alliance partners became inactive in recent years, while the Bangladesh Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal left the alliance.
The Workers Party of Bangladesh, the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal–Jasod, the Ganatantri Party and the Jatiya Party–JP are among the most active parties in the alliance.
AL general secretary Quader said that everything would be clear about the seat sharing by December 16.
New Age
