Four Islamist parties with ‘political clout’ not participating in election

Many important registered Islamist political parties are not joining the race of the twelfth national election slated to be held on 7 January 2024.

Most of these parties that are familiar in the political arena are yet to make an announcement to join the election.

These are four Qawmi-madrasa based parties—Islami Andolon Bangladesh, Bangladesh Khelfat Majlish, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam and Khelafat Majlish.  

Other than these parties, the Islamist party that has political clout is Jamaat-e-Islam. The party is not registered with the election commission right now.

These five political parties are deemed important among Islamist parties. These parties have a certain support base in the country.  

On the other hand, the Islamist parties that have so far announced to join the election fray do not have much support in the ground. Few candidates were elected lawmakers from these parties in the past.

Of the 44 political parties registered with the EC, 11 are Islamists. Seven of these parties have declared their participation in the next general election.

These are: Bangladesh Khilafat Andolon, Islami Oikya Jote, Islamic Front Bangladesh, Islamic Front, Bangladesh Tariqat Federation, Zaker Party and Bangladesh Supreme Party. Out of this, only the Tariqat Federation had representation in the last two parliaments.

Among the two Qawmi Madrasa-based parties that are going to the polls Bangladesh Khilafat Andolon was founded by Maulana Mohammad Ullah Hafezzi Huzur. His son Ataullah Hafezzi is the amir (chief) of this party now. Another party, Islami Oikya Jote, was founded by late Mufti Fazlul Haque Amini, son-in-law of Hafezzi Huzur. Amini’s son Abul Hasanat Amini is now the chairman of this party. On Thursday night, the top leaders of both the parties met the prime minister at his Ganabhaban office.

Bangladesh Khilafat Andolon and Islami Oikya Jote sources said they have sought 10 seats each. They mainly focus on four constituencies. Oikya Jote wants Brahmanbaria-2 for Hasnat Amini and Cumilla-2 for party’s joint secretary general Altaf Hossain while Khelafat wants Dhaka-2 for its amir Ataullah Hafezzi and Dhaka-7 for secretary general Habibullah Miazi.

Awami League has strong candidates of its own in three of these four seats. Party stalwart and presidium member Qamrul Islam in Dhaka-2, Haji Selim in Dhaka-7 and Nitol Group’ owner Selima Ahmed are ruling party’s strong candidates.

Former central vice president of Bangladesh Chhatra League Shahjahan Alam was elected MP from Brahmanbaria-2 in the by-election following the death of Ukil Abdus Sattar. Chance is high that the ruling party will field him again in this constituency. Taking these realities into account, informed sources think it is unlikely for these two parties to win the nomination in these four seats.

Khelafat Andolon and Islami Oikya Jote once had substantial influence in the Qawmi madrasas. But these parties have lost their prowess later due to splits, change of stance by top leaderships and so on. Mufti Amini was elected MP as candidate of four-party alliance led by BNP. He lost in the election in 2008. The party left the BNP alliance in 2016 and tilted towards the ruling AL. IOJ fielded candidates in 40 constituencies in 2018 but none could win.

IOJ’s central joint secretary general Altaf Hossain told Prothom Alo last night, “We are taking part in the election. We’ve been assured of a free, fair and neutral election during our talks with the chief election commissioner and highups of the government.”

Of the nine Islamist parties including IOJ that met prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday, Islamic Front Bangladesh is a longtime ally of the ruling AL. The party is registered with EC. The party’s president Bahadur Shah Mozaddedi has shown interest to become an MP while meeting the PM.

But AL leaders do not see any scope of nominating him or any other candidates of this party for MP on negotiation.

Bahadur Shah wants to take part in the election from Chandpur-5 where AL’s current MP is major (retd) Rafiqul Islam Bir Uttam. Former director general of Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and former director of National Security Intelligence brigadier general (retd) AH Salauddin and eight least others seek ruling party nomination from this seat.

Islamic Front secretary general Jainul Abedin wants ruling AL’s nomination from Chattogram-11. AL’s Abdul Latif is a three-time MP from this constituency. So,  Jainul is unlikely to be picked from this important constituency.

Misbahur Rahman’s Bangladesh Islami Oikya Jote wants to field candidates in 50 seats. He has also shown interest to become MP while meeting the PM. He does not have any specific choice of seat. This party is not registered with the EC.

The Supreme Party has come to the headlines by getting registration recently. It has also formed an alliance with several other religion-based parties. But AL sources said the party does not have any constituency to offer to this party.

AL leaders said the party’s bonhomie with these parties is mainly to make the election look participatory and offering any parliamentary seats to them is unlikely.

The four Qawmi madrasa based parties that shun the election—Chormonai pir’s Islami Andolon Bangladesh, Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish founded by Shaykhul Hadis Ajijul Haque, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam led by Shaikh Jiauddin and Khelafat Majlish led by Ismail Nurpuri—are notable in many respect.

Among them Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam is an old party. Shahinoor Pasha Chowdhury, a vice president of this party, was in the delegation that met the PM on Thursday night.

Jamiat leaders said they are not participating in the election. Shahinoor Pasha met the PM going against the decision of the party and that’s why all his posts including the primary membership has been suspended. A press release from the party said Shahinoor Pasha has tainted the party’s image by breaching discipline.

Among the Islamist parties, Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Andolon Bangladesh are important in electoral politics. Jamaat had representation in almost all past parliaments. Islami Andolon has also established itself as a force to reckon with lately. The party got a good number of votes in some local elections including in Rangpur and Narayanganj.

Islami Andolon Bangladesh’s amir Syed Rezaul Karim announced not to participate in the ‘sham election by government’. Addressing the annual conference of Charmonai yesterday, he said Islami Andolon would not join the election if an environment of free, credible and participatory election is not created.