Jamaat finalises candidates, begins center-based preparations

Except for Gazipur-6 and Narsingdi-5 constituencies, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami has finalised its candidates for the remaining 298 seats in the parliament and started preparatory activities nearly four months ahead of the polls.

The party has now moved into center-based preparations as part of its election strategy. These include organising training workshops for polling agents and forming center-based committees aimed at preventing irregularities at polling stations.

According to multiple senior sources within Jamaat, these activities will be completed within the next one to one and a half months.

Party sources say Jamaat’s goal in the 13th parliamentary election is to build a welfare state based on justice and equality in the spirit of the student-people’s uprising. With this objective, the party is fully engaged in election-oriented activities.

However, there are disagreements among political parties, including BNP and Jamaat, regarding the implementation of the July National Charter and the electoral system (proportional representation or PR).

Already, six parties including Jamaat and Islami Andolan have started programmes on the streets with common demands, which have led many to see uncertainty surrounding the election.

Jamaat sources further said that candidates have been finalised for 298 constituencies through votes of district and upazila leaders and by the central nomination board.

Although they are working in the constituencies, this candidate list is not final. If there is an electoral understanding with like-minded parties, some candidates will be withdrawn from certain constituencies.

In the past, Jamaat was largely dominated by senior leadership. But this time, under the leadership of party ameer Shafiqur Rahman, a different picture is emerging in the changed context. The party is trying to bring forward young leadership between the ages of 35 and 45.

At the same time, instead of engaging in controversy, the focus is on quiet campaigning, social media-based promotion, and promises or activities centered on local development and public involvement.

One of Jamaat’s young candidates is Ataur Rahman Sarkar, publicity and media secretary of the party’s Dhaka City North unit. He has been nominated for Brahmanbaria-4 (Kasba–Akhaura) constituency. The former law minister Anisul Huq was the MP for this seat.

Among BNP’s nomination seekers in this constituency are former MP Mushfiqur Rahman and Kabir Ahmed Bhuiyan, brother of Tarique Rahman’s personal assistant Abdur Rahman (Sani). Two strong factions of BNP are active in this constituency.

Speaking from Kasba last Thursday, Ataur Rahman Sarkar told Prothom Alo, “There was a time when we would hold meetings among ourselves, but ordinary people did not come. Now we are holding yard meetings in villages and neighbourhoods, and centre-based meetings. Alhamdulillah, we are receiving unprecedented responses from the people, which we could never have imagined.”

It has been learned that Jamaat candidates are emphasising free medical services, helping people in need, offering prayers in mosques and getting acquainted with devotees, exchanging greetings and such activities are being given importance.

Party statistics show that out of the 20 members of Jamaat’s highest policymaking body, the central executive council, all except five will contest the upcoming election this time. The five are ANM Shamsul Islam, Abdur Rab, ATM Ma’sum, Abdul Halim, and Ehsanul Mahbub Zobayer.

Among the 15 members of the central executive council who are contesting, party ameer Shafiqur Rahman will be a candidate in Dhaka-15 and Secretary General Mia Golam Porwar in Khulna-5.

Nayeb-e-ameer Mujibur Rahman will contest from Rajshahi-1, ATM Azharul Islam from Rangpur-2, and Syed Abdullah Mohammad Taher from Cumilla-11. Assistant Secretary General Rafiqul Islam Khan will contest from Sirajganj-4 and AHM Hamidur Rahman Azad from Cox’s Bazar-2.

Central publicity secretary Matiur Rahman Akand will contest from Mymensingh-5, Md Izzat Ullah from Satkhira-1, Saiful Alam Khan Milon from Dhaka-12, Nurul Islam Bulbul (Ameer of Dhaka city south) from Chapainawabganj-3, Muhammad Selim Uddin (Ameer of Dhaka city north) from Sylhet-6, Muhammad Mobarak Hossain from Dhaka-13, Moyazzem Hossain Helal from Barishal-5, and Principal Shahabuddin from Bogura-1.

This time, Jamaat is also nominating many leaders who in the past were at the centre of discussion in various ways as central leaders of Islami Chhatra Shibir. Among them are Shafiqul Islam Masud, Shishir Monir, and Delwar Hossain Sayeedi (Thakurgaon).

Former president of Chhatra Shibir and currently secretary of Dhaka city south Jamaat, Shafiqul Islam Masud, will be a candidate in Patuakhali-2 constituency. Known for his motivational speeches, Masud is quite popular among party leaders and workers.

During the past Awami League government, Shishir Monir was noted as a young defense lawyer in the International Crimes Tribunal, which was formed to try crimes against humanity in 1971. Jamaat is nominating him this time in Sunamganj-2 (Dirai–Shalla) constituency. Awami League’s Suranjit Sengupta had long been the MP of this seat.

In 2010, Shishir Monir came into the centre of discussion over the resignation of many members of the central committee in an internal feud within Chhatra Shibir. In 2009, Shishir Monir was the central secretary of Chhatra Shibir, while Muhammad Rezaul Karim was the president. In the next term, Shishir Monir was not made secretary of Chhatra Shibir. This angered many members of the central committee, leading to resignations.

Shishir Monir also remained distant from the organisation for a long time. Later he was reintegrated into the organisation.

That same former president of Chhatra Shibir, Muhammad Rezaul Karim, is also being nominated this time as Jamaat’s candidate in Lakshmipur-3 (Municipality and Chandraganj) constituency, where BNP’s candidate is the party’s joint secretary general, Shahid Uddin Chowdhury (Anny). Rezaul Karim is the secretary of Jamaat’s Dhaka city north unit.

In Thakurgaon-1 constituency, former president of Chhatra Shibir Delwar Hossain Sayeedi will be a candidate. During the Awami League government, he was kept on remand for 59 consecutive days. He is considered a persecuted leader in the organisation. BNP’s secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir contests election in this constituency.

The well-known Islamic preacher Amir Hamza has been nominated as candidate in Kushtia-3 constituency. Recently, he became controversial over making false statements about Azan (call to prayer) in a hall of Dhaka University and about widespread availability of alcohol at Jahangirnagar University. However, later he apologised for those statements.

Jamaat’s secretary general Mia Golam Porwar told Prothom Alo that they had sat with Amir Hamza. The party’s ameer warned him regarding his speeches. He will contest the election in Kushtia-3 constituency.

Children of leaders who were sentenced to death in the International Crimes Tribunal cases are also being nominated this time. Former ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami’s son Najibur Rahman Momin (Pabna-1), Delwar Hossain Sayeedi’s younger son Masud Sayeedi (Pirojpur-1) and elder son Shamim Sayeedi (Pirojpur-2), and Mir Quasem Ali’s son, lawyer Mir Ahmad Bin Arman (Dhaka-14), will be candidates.

They are already conducting organisational activities and campaigning in the electoral areas.

Among them, Delwar Hossain Sayeedi’s younger son Masud Sayeedi was elected chairman of Zianagar upazila parishad in Pirojpur in 2014.

He told Prothom Alo on Friday, “When my father’s (Delwar Hossain Sayeedi’s) case was ongoing in the tribunal, I contested the election. At that time my opponent, the Awami League candidate, received five thousand votes. I was elected with twenty-five thousand votes. I trust that the people of Pirojpur Sadar, Zianagar, and Nazirpur will keep me by their side.”

It has been learned that the fourth son of Jamaat’s senior leader Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, who was convicted in war crimes cases, Hasan Imam Wafy, is a potential candidate in Sherpur-1 constituency. However, he has no organisational link with his father’s party Jamaat.

He told Prothom Alo yesterday, Friday, that he wants to contest the election from Amar Bangladesh Party (AB Party). He also said that he has communication and connections with the top leadership of AB Party.

Jamaat sources said that after the redrawing of parliamentary constituencies, the number of seats in Gazipur district has increased by one. Previously there were five seats in Gazipur; now there are six. Jamaat has not yet finalised a candidate for the newly created Gazipur-6 seat.

In addition, the candidate for Narsingdi-5 constituency may be changed due to objections raised at the local level.

Besides this, based on the previous boundaries, four candidates had been announced for seats in Bagerhat district of Khulna divsion. With the new demarcation, the number of seats in Bagerhat has decreased from four to three. As a result, one candidate will be dropped there.

Party sources said that the nomination process for candidates in Gazipur-6 and Narsingdi-5 constituencies is ongoing. The names will be announced very soon.

Ahead of the upcoming national election, Jamaat-e-Islami for the first time is considering breaking with tradition by nominating popular and acceptable figures from outside the party. In principle, the party has even decided to consider non-Muslim candidates, something that would be unprecedented for Jamaat.

However, for the first time, Jamaat’s long-held tradition has been broken, as internal discontent has surfaced openly in at least two constituencies, Pabna-5 and Mymensingh-6. In both constituencies, divisions have come out in the open, accompanied by protests.

In Pabna-5, a section of the local Jamaat activists rejected the party’s nominated candidate, Iqbal Hossain, demanding that Abdur Rahim, a member of the party’s central Majlis-e-Shura, be nominated instead.

Meanwhile in Mymensingh-6, after Kamrul Hasan Milon was declared the candidate for the constituency, part of the party protested, calling for former district Ameer Jasim Uddin to be nominated. In response, all of Jasim Uddin’s organisational posts were suspended.

Discontent has also emerged in Chattogram-15, where Jamaat nominated Shahjahan Chowdhury as its candidate.

A senior Jamaat leader said that changing candidates in the face of protests could set a bad precedent within the organisation, so the nominees will not be changed.

Jamaat’s senior leaders say that based on the signals and indications they have been receiving from the field over the past few months, they are fairly optimistic. Both their own surveys and various opinion polls have encouraged this outlook.

An internal party source claimed that they could mount strong competition in several constituencies across all 33 seats in Rangpur division, 35 seats in Khulna, 11 in Rajshahi, 3 in Barishal, 12 in Chattogram, 3 in Sylhet, 2 in Mymensingh, and some of the 20 seats in Dhaka division.

Jamaat has not contested an election alone since 1996. This time, they are seeking an electoral alliance with several parties, including Islami Andolan led by the Pir of Charmonai, to consolidate the Islamist vote into a single bloc. However, the party is simultaneously preparing to contest independently.

On Wednesday and Thursday, this correspondent visited Jamaat’s central office in Moghbazar. Apart from a few, most central leaders were not present, with office staff saying they had gone to their respective constituencies for organisational work.

Speaking to this correspondent over phone from Khulna on Friday morning, Jamaat Secretary General Mia Golam Porwar remarked that the ground-level situation this time is “quite exceptional.”

Mia Golam Porwar said, “We have held meetings and rallies before. But now, we are seeing several times more people in attendance. The public wants change, of government, state, rulers, leaders, everything. They are saying they don’t want a repeat of what they’ve already seen. Jamaat has not yet been tested. That test remains. And we are ready to face it.”

Observers note that with the 13th national election ahead, Jamaat is moving forward with multifaceted preparations. The key question now is how much impact these preparations will have on the political field and the ballot box.