Husband president, wife secretary, party office at home

The Bangladesh Democratic Party (BDP) has applied to the election commission (EC) for registration as a political party. In its application submitted to the EC, the party mentioned its office address as 639/B, Peyarabagh, Moghbazar, Dhaka.

A visit to the address by a Prothom Alo correspondent on Tuesday afternoon showed that there is a small room with tin roof and dilapidated walls.

Despite repeated knocking at the door, no one responded from inside. Later, the correspondent dialled the phone number of party president Md Jahangir Hawlader.

A woman picked the call and identified herself as Jahangir Hawlader’s wife, Mahmuda Sultana confirmed that her husband was at home.

After a little while, Jahangir Hawlader, wearing a towel over his shoulder, opened the door and stepped out of his house.

Asked about the application to the EC for party registration, Jahangir Hawlader told Prothom Alo, “Yes, I’ve just submitted the application for registration. I formed the party in 2011, when I was studying at Titumir College. I’m thinking of getting a proper office soon, but for now, I’m just trying to organise the party properly.”

When asked whether the party had any formal committee, he replied that there was a 75-member committee, which included people from both Dhaka and outside the capital.

Asked about the name of the party’s general secretary, Jahangir Hawlader said his wife, Mahmuda Sultana, is carrying out the duties of secretary for now.

He further said that they are using his rented home as the party’s office for the time being.

On the other hand, the Bangladesh-Tisari-Insaf Party has been using a restaurant as its party office. In its registration application to the EC, the party provided the address: 54 Purana Paltan, BK Tower.

A visit to the BK Tower on Tuesday revealed that there was no signboard of any political party’s office there. The building at number 54 is a three-storey one. The third floor has been unoccupied for quite some time. There was a restaurant, Bhojon Restaurant, on the second floor that has been closed since 5 August last year. On the ground floor, a hotel, Muslim Hotel and Kabab Ghar, is still operating.

The party’s registration application to the EC mentioned Md Minhaj Pradhan as its chairman. The application mentioned his phone number too.

When contacted, he told Prothom Alo that the upper floors of the building, including the office room, are currently undergoing renovation.

Asked which floor houses the office, he replied, “The third floor”. But when it was pointed out that the third floor has long been vacant, he responded, “I regularly sit at the Muslim Hotel.”

The Prothom Alo correspondent spoke with Muslim Hotel and Kabab Ghar manager Md Sohag. He informed the correspondent that Minhaj Pradhan often comes to the restaurant for breakfast and discusses political matters there.

He, however, clarified that their restaurant is not the office of any political party.

Md Sohag also said he did not know whether Minhaj Pradhan is the leader of any party, and confirmed that no political party office exists in the building.

A total of 147 parties, including Minhaj Pradhan’s Bangladesh-Tisari-Insaf, have applied to the EC for registration. The National Citizen Party (NCP) submitted its application with the EC on Sunday, the final day for submission of application. The party requested the national flower, water lily, as its electoral symbol.

It has mentioned two more preferred symbols - pen and mobile phone. The NCP’s temporary central office is located at Rupayan Tower, Banglamotor.

Parties that will get the EC’s registration will be eligible to contest the next national parliamentary elections using their own electoral symbols.

Currently, there are 51 parties registered with the election commission. Among them, the registration of the Awami League has been suspended (its activities are currently banned).

A new political party must have an active central office and an effective committee in at least one-third of the country’s administrative districts to get the EC’s registration.

Apart from those, the party must provide documents on support from a minimum of 200 voters across at least 100 upazilas or metropolitan police localities.

Three staff correspondents and eight correspondents of Prothom Alo visited on Tuesday the offices of 34 parties that applied for registration with the election.

Of these, 26 were based in Dhaka, while the remaining eight had mentioned addresses in Khulna, Faridpur, Dinajpur, Bandarban, Gaibandha, Narayanganj, Gazipur, and Savar.

No signboard of any political party was found at seven of those addresses.

Some of the addresses turned out to be homes or commercial establishments. Only at the Gazipur address of the Bangladesh Republican Party (BRP) was a signboard visible but the office was closed.

Among the parties that have applied for registration with the EC, three have the word Bekar, unemployed, in their names.

Those are: Bangladesh Bekar Mukti Parishad, Bangladesh Bekar Samaj (BBS), and Bangladesh Bekar Samaj.

In its application for registration, Bangladesh Bekar Samaj (BBS) mentioned 131/1/A, Crescent Road (Dhanmondi) as its address.

A visit to the address on Tuesday afternoon showed that there is a four-storey residential building. On the left side of the entrance was a signboard for BBS. The party’s office is situated on the third floor, which also happens to be the residence of the son of the party’s president Md Hasan.

A woman, Nadia Khanam, stepped out of the house when Prothom Alo correspondent knocked on the door. She identified herself as BBS president Md Hasan’s daughter-in-law and disclosed that the party uses the drawing room of the flat as its office.

Prothom Alo correspondent talked to Md Hasan over phone. He stated that the party was founded in 1985 and that he had contested elections from various constituencies over the years.

He further said that the party works to protect the interests of the unemployed population.

Speaking regarding the use of his son’s flat as the party office, Md Hasan said, “Except for a few large political parties, almost no other political party in Bangladesh has a proper office. Currently we are using this flat as a temporary office. My son and daughter-in-law live in the adjacent room.”

Several parties that have applied for registration with the election commission include: Bangladesh Best Political Party, Nakful Bangladesh, Bangladesh Nagorik Command, Bangladesh Jonogoner Dol, Bangladesh Deshpremik Projonmo, Bangladesh Solution Party, Bangladesh Songrami Voter Party, Bangladesh Jonopriyo Party (BPP), Bangladesh Jonogoner Dal (BAJOD), Jonotar Kotha Bole, Bangladesh Shantir Dal, Bangladesh Matribhumi Dal, Bangladesh Pak Panjatan Party (BPPP), Bangladesh Jonomat Party, and Bangladesh Sarbo-Swechchha Unnayan Dal.

Additionally, two more notable applications came from Jonota Party Bangladesh, led by film actor Ilias Kanchan and journalist Shawkat Mahmud, and Bangladesh Aam Jonogon Party, led by former Destiny Group managing director Mohammad Rafiqul Amin.

Another party, Muslim Save Union, mentioned its office address as Ramzan Trading-83, 2nd Lane, Shantinagar Bazar (3rd and 4th floor). However, no political office was found at the location during a visit on Tuesday.

When contacted by phone, the party’s president Abdul Mannan Miah admitted that the party no longer operates from that address. Asked about the current office location, he said it was now in a building near Prashanti Hospital in Malibagh.

Another party, Jatiya Nyaybichar Party, mentioned that its office is on the 7th floor of Islam Tower in Naya Paltan, Dhaka. Upon visiting, no political office was found there either. Instead, the floor housed several travel agencies and commercial businesses, including Al Amin Tours & Travels.

The party’s chairman, Md Kamruzzaman, told Prothom Alo over phone, “We had to follow procedures, so we used Al Amin Travels as a temporary office to meet the requirements for registration. We’ll get a proper office later.”

Several political parties and platforms have their offices at Pritam Tower on the Box Culvert road at Purana Paltan. There are offices of two political parties on the roof of the tower’s 15th floor. One of them is the National Labour Party and the other one is Janatar Odhikar Party. The office of Janatar Odhikar Party was shown as the central office of another political party, Desh Bachao Manush Bachao Andolon.

The registration application to the EC mentioned KM Rakibul Islam as the chairman of the Desh Bachao Manush Bachao Andolon.

He told Prothom Alo, “We were together with the Odhikar Party there. There was a sticker of our party pasted on the door of the room there. Maybe that has fallen off from there. We shall paste another sticker there.”

[This report was compiled with assistance from local correspondents and correspondents of the relevant areas.]