Boat rivals are in the polls, not in campaign

The campaign posters of the Awami League-nominated candidate from Pabna-5 (Sadar) constituency, Golam Faruk Khandakar Prince are all over the town and he is campaigning every day whereas none of his opponents is seen campaigning for the election.

Golam Faruk is the incumbent lawmaker and Awami League’s Pabna district unit president. There are four more opponents in the upcoming election and they merely exist in papers. These candidates are; Abdul Kader Khan of Jatiya Party, Md Zakir Hossain of Workers Party of Bangladesh, Md Abu Daud of National People’s Party (NPP) and Md Afzal Hossain of Trinamool BNP.

Campaign posters of Workers Party’s Zakir Hossain are seen in some places while no posters of Trinamool BNP’s Afzal Hossain are seen, but someone make public announcements for him from a battery-run auto-rickshaw running. Neither any poster nor any public campaign or 'miking' of other candidates is seen in the constituency.

People familiar with local politics in Pabna-5 seat said victory of the boat candidate is fairly certain and the four opponents will need fight to save their security deposits.

Replying to a query on why they are not in the poll campaign, the candidate of the opposition in parliament Jatiya Party and Pabna district unit president, Abdul Kader Khan said, “Jatiya Party had decided to join the polls alone, but later they shared seats. No specific instructions came after that. No financial assistance was provided either. As a result, we cannot do anything and we are waiting for party decision.”

With eight days left to go to the 12th parliamentary election, there are many constitutes where the scenario is more or less similar to the Pabna-5 seat. Publicity is going on in full swing, posters are everywhere, and public campaign and miking are on, but all of it is for the boat candidates. Opponents of Awami League exist in the name, and somewhere they are absent in the polling field.

Various political parties including Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Islami Andolon Bangladesh boycotted the 12th parliamentary election slated for 7 January. Twenty-right out of 44 parties registered with the election commission fielded candidates in the upcoming election. According to the reports sent by Prothom Alo’s correspondents and the party sources, Awami League candidates are likely to face tough competition from independent candidates in more than 100 out of 266 seats, and these independent candidates are mostly from Awami League. Tough competition is also likely in the six seats for the allies, as well as in 16 out 26 seats that Awami League relinquished for Jatiya Party.

Prothom Alo’s staff correspondents and correspondents observed the poll campaign in 35 seats on Thursday and Friday. They saw two leading candidates campaigning for election at a similar pace in 10 seats. Boat candidates solely dominate in the remaining 24 seats while the remaining seat was relinquished for Jatiya Party, and these 25 seats have no strong independent candidate.

Rabeya Begum, from Paikpara village of Sadar upazila, Habiganj, who is a housewife, came to the Habiganj town on Thursday to purchase medicines. Replying to query on scenario of poll campaign in her area, Rabeya Begum said she knows about the boat candidate, but “I did not know at all who the other candidates are.”

Incumbent lawmaker Md Abu Zahir is contesting the next election on boat symbol from this seat. He along with his relatives and supporters is campaigning every day. Eight more candidates also contesting the election, and some of them hardly campaign for the polls while some do not do it at all.

The other candidates are; Abdul Munim Chowdhury of Jatiya Party, md Abdul Qadir of National People's Party, Md Adom Ali of Bangladesh Tariqat Federation, Ansarul Haque of Zaker Party, md Abdul Waheed of Islamic Front of Bangladesh, Noman Hasan of Bangladesh Congress, Badrul Alam Siddiqui of Bangladesh Nationalist Movement-BNM and Shahinur Rahman of Bangladesh Sangkritik Muktijot.

Posters of the boat candidate are all over the Sadar upazila while posters of the Jatiya Party candidate was seen in few places and no poster of other candidates were seen anywhere.

Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik’s (Shujan) Habiganj district chapter president Chowdhury Misbah Ul Bari told Prothom Alo it is very easy to predict who will win the election, but it is difficult to say who will come at second since the remaining candidates are fairly unknown and not in the campaign.

Prothom Alo’s staff correspondents and cCorrespondents visited four constituencies in Dhaka, six in Chattogram, four in Moulvibazar, five in Pabna, one in Habiganj, five in Netrakona, six in Brahmanbaria, two in Panchagarh and two constituencies in Magura on Thursday and Friday to inquire about the polls campaign.

The Netrakona-4 (Madan-Mohonganj-Khaliajuri) is one of constituencies where boat opponents hardly campaign for election. Awami League nominated incumbent lawmaker and former senior secretary at Prime Minister’s Office, Sajjadul Hasan for the next election. Currently, he is the vice-president of Awmi League’s Netrokona district unit. His father physician Akhlakul Hossain was a member of the Constituent Assembly of Bangladesh, and one of the leading organiser of Liberation War.

There are three opponents of Sajjadul Hasan, and they are; md Liaquat Ali Khan of Jatiya Party, Md Musfiqur Rahman of Jasad and Md Al Mamun of Trinamool BNP.

Mohonganj upazila parishad chairman and Awani League’s Mohonganj upazila unit general secretary Md Shaheed Iqbal told Prothom Alo there is no reason to consider the candidate contesting the polls against the boat as the opponents. No candidate has the power to compete against the boat candidate on the election field, so, the victory of Sazzadul Hasan is certain, he added.

There are 20 seats in Dhaka city and district. According to political analysts and voters, 18 out 20 seats in Dhaka are unlikely to see a contest in the election. Visiting the Dhaka-7 (Solaiman Selim is the boat candidate), Dhaka-8 (AFM Bahauddin Nasim), Dhaka-10 (Ferdous Ahmed) and 13 (Janahagir Kabir Nanok), widespread polls campaigns were seen running, but these are mostly for Awami League’s

There is no that much excitement on poll campaign in six out 16 constituencies in Chattogram city and district. Boat candies are in relax mood in Chattogram-4 (Sitakunda and parts of city), Chattogram-6 (Raujan), Chattogram-7 (Rangunia), Chattogram-9 (Kotwali-Baklia) and Chattogram-12 (Anwara-Karnaphuli) constituencies. Jatiya Party candidate Anisul Islam Mahmud from the Chattogram-5 (Hathajari) seat also less worried and many people of Awami League also campaign from him.

There are five candidates contesting from the Chattogram-6 (Raujan) seat. They are ABM Fazle Karim Chowdhury of Awami League, Mohammad Safiq-ul Alam Chowdhury of Jatiya Party, SM Zafar Ullah of Islamic Front Bangladesh, Md Yahya Zia Chowdhury of Trinamool BNP and independent candidate Shafiul Azam.

Fazle Karim Chowdhury told Prothom Alo, “I cannot say about the condition of other candidates, but I have been running the campaign and I saw others’ banners and posters.” He hoped a 70 per cent voter turnout at his seat.

Usually, participation of all parties and a free and fair election saw higher voter turnout, which was 55 per cent in the parliamentary election in 1991, 76 per cent in June 1996, 75 per cent in 2001 and 87 per cent in 2008.

In 2014, candidates were elected uncontested in 153 constituencies and voting was held in 143 seats. Then election commission said voter turnout was 40 per cent in those 147 seats. Although all major parties joined the 2018 election, question arouse on the polls.

This time, candidates are seeking votes, as well as requesting voters to go to polling stations on the voting day. On the other hand, voters find no opponent of boat candidates.

Cricketer Shakib Al Hasan is the candidate of Awami League in the Magura-1 constituency. There are four more candidates, and they are; Kazi Rezaul Hossain of Bangladesh Congress, Sirajus Saifin of Jatiya Party, KM Motasim Billah of Bangladesh Nationalist Front (BNF) and Sanjay Kumar Roy of Trinamool BNP. And, among them, campaign of only Bangladesh Congress candidate on green coconut symbol was seen sometimes.

The candidate of the opposition in parliament Jatiya Party, Sirajus Saifin told Prothom Alo, “What is the most pressing matter is that people are seemingly not interested to cast vote, which is why we are campaigning.”

(Prothom Alo’s Staff Correspondents and Correspondents from respective districts contribute to this report.)