You are a three-time MP from the Kushtia-2 constituency. You contested the election with the boat symbol as a candidate of the 14-Party Alliance. But you lost the polls this time. What are the reasons behind the defeat?
The election was free and fair overall as mentioned by the Election Commission (EC) earlier. However, there are also reports of some sporadic incidents of vote rigging. Even the EC has admitted to this. Unfortunately, the Kushtia-2 constituency was one of those few places with reports of vote rigging. I was defeated by the rigged votes, not by people’s votes.
Why are you saying this?
I have evidence in favour of my claim that I lost the election due to vote rigging. The goons patronised by my rival candidate influenced the voting in 18 out of the 161 polling centres in this constituency. In one of those 18 centres, my rival candidate (an independent candidate from the Awami League) got 2,800 votes whereas I got only 85 votes. It is clear from this figure that voting in these 18 centres was not normal at all. It is very unfortunate that the administration did not take any action despite all the irregularities.
Although the winning candidate was an Awami League leader, it was you who contested the election with the ‘boat’ symbol after negotiations with the ruling party...
A large section of the local Awami League leaders and activists worked against the boat symbol with the help of the administration. It is unfortunate that a section of the central Awami League leaders also worked against the boat symbol. Overall, the election was free and fair in 95 per cent of the places. There were reports of irregularities from only five per cent of the polling centres.
Will the question be not raised that you are now saying this as you lost the elections?
I am not saying this for that reason. I was subjected to vote rigging. It happened only in a few places. For instance, Jatiya Party (JP) leader Anwar Hossain Manju lost the polls due to vote rigging.
The allies of the ruling party in the 14-Party Alliance, are in a miserable condition given that only two of the candidates from the alliance, one from JASAD and Rashed Khan Menon from the Workers' Party, contesting the polls with the boat symbol have won eventually.
Each of us (alliance candidates) faced independent candidates from the Awami League. It turned into a contest between the Awami League and alliance candidates with the boat symbol. There was no effective initiative from the Awami League to solve the problem, which led to this disaster. It was a defeat for the politics of our alliance.
Will it have any impact on the politics of the 14-Party Alliance?
We will discuss the overall situation in the meeting of the 14-Party Alliance. As there are similarities in our political goal, we will continue to work together. However, the impacts of the organisational jeopardy centering the election are still visible.
The followers of the winning independent Awami League candidates are carrying out attacks on the followers of defeated candidates from the alliance. In my area, the followers of the winning independent candidates are targeting the leaders and activists of JASAD. This should be stopped right now.