‘Independent’ candidates overtake 'boat' in UP polls

Independent candidates for chairman posts have surpassed the ruling Awami League’s ‘boat’ candidates in the fifth phase Union Parishad (UP) election. Most of these independent candidates are Awami League’s rebels who contested on their own after failing to get party tickets.

Awami League candidates have suffered most in Sylhet and Rajshahi divisions in the recently held UP elections.

In Kushtia sadar upazila, AL candidate won in only one UP out of the 11 that went to polls in the fifth phase while eight rebel candidates of the party, one independent and one BNP-backed candidate won.

Kushtia district AL’s general secretary Asgar Ali admitted that the party faced a drubbing in the district and said the reasons for such a loss would be found out after investigation.

He said actions would be taken if anyone from the party is found involved in such a huge defeat of the candidates.

Five among the defeated AL candidates could not even put up a contest and three of them lost their security deposits.

M Shompa Mahmud, the AL candidate from Hatash Haripur UP, was one who could not get back the security deposit.

She alleged that union AL’s top leaders directly worked for rebel candidates.

Nimai Chand Mandal, the AL candidate of Folsi UP in jhenaidah’s Harinakundu upazila, could get only 42 votes. AL’s rebel candidate in the union Bazlur Rahman was elected getting 4,623 votes while his nearest contender Fazlur Rahman got 4,179 votes.

Nimai Chand said he is the president of AL’s union parishad unit but could not understand why he got such a meagre amount of votes.

There are two factions of AL in the union, he said adding that upazila AL vice president Bazlur Rahman leads one faction and joint secretary Fazlur Rahman leads the other. Nimai said he had hoped to win the election as he does not belong to any faction.

A total of 707 UP went to polls in the country in the fifth phase on Wednesday. The election commission (EC) secretariat published results of 692 UPs on Thursday while results in 15 UPs have not been published. Of those UPs, AL candidates won chairman posts in 341 and independents won in 346. AL, however, did not field candidates in 47 of these UPs. AL leaders contested as independent candidates in those UPs.

According to information from Prothom Alo correspondents, among the 346 independent candidates, 160 are AL's rebels, 83 are BNP men and five are Jamaat-e-Islami men.

AL’s main rival BNP officially boycotted the local body election, yet the winning rates of the ruling party’s candidates have decreased in every phase. AL candidates won in 76 per cent union parishads in the first phase but their winning rate dropped to 59 per cent in the second phase election held on 11 November. In third phase election held on 28 November, the ruling party won in 54 per cent of the UPs and their percentage of winning dropped further to 51.49 in the fourth phase polls held on 26 December. The winning percentage of the ruling party was 49.27 in the fifth phase. If the 47 UPs where AL did not field candidates are taken into consideration, the percentage in the fifth phase increases to 52.86 per cent.

Even in the 2016 UP elections held under the party symbol for the first time, AL candidates fared better than the third and fourth phases of this time. BNP also contested in that controversial election. A total of 4,104 UPs went to the polls in 2016. AL candidates won in 2652 or 65 per cent of the UPs.

A total of 75 UPs of Sylhet went to the polls in the fifth phase. Results in two of these UPs have been withheld. In the remaining 73 UPs, AL won in only 29 UPs, rebel candidates won 17 UPs, BNP men in 15 UPs and Jamaat men in 4 UPs.

Sylhet district AL’s acting president Shafiqur Rahman Chowdhury said the voters usually give more emphasis on a candidate’s personal and social image instead of their electoral symbol in local body polls. So, these results may not reflect the popularity of the party.

AL candidates were defeated in 11 UPs out of 16 in Rajshahi’s Bagmara upazila. AL’s rebel candidates won in six UPs while BNP leaders won in five.

The 'boat' candidate was defeated in Marhia UP, the residence of lawmaker of Rajshahi-4 and president of upazila AL Enamul Haque. The ruling party candidate could secure the third position while the MPs younger brother and rebel candidate Rezaul Haque won.

Bagmara upazila AL’s acting general secretary Asaduzzaman told Prothom Alo that there were some faults in the selection of party candidates.

Incompetence and financial insolvency led to the downfall of AL candidates, he added.

Not only in Bagmara, but AL candidates were also defeated in other parts of Rajshahi too. In 124 UPs of Rajshahi, AL candidates were defeated in 66 UPs. In Rangpur division, AL candidates lost 51 per cent of the UPs.

Bagmara upazila AL’s senior leader Birendranath Sarker told Prothom Alo that local leaders resort to irregularity in fielding candidates and did not take any initiative to deter the rebel candidates from contesting in polls.

(Prothom Alo correspondents of the respective areas contributed to the report)