Most parties shun May 8 upazila polls

Most political parties are either boycotting or did not field candidates for the upazila elections set to begin in phases from May 8.

Some major political parties are boycotting the local polls in line with their political stance, while many smaller parties are not joining due to weak organisational base as well as for the 10-fold increase in the mandatory security deposit amount set by the Election Commission.

BNP and its like-minded parties officially decided to shun the polls, saying they will not be a part of the "farcical election". The 12-party alliance, which includes Jatiya Party (Zafar), Bangladesh Labour Party, Bangladesh Jatiya Dal, NDP, and a faction of Liberal Democratic Party, says it will not join the race under a "subservient" Election Commission.

Communist Party of Bangladesh and Islami Andolan Bangladesh are also boycotting, citing absence of a congenial atmosphere for holding a free, fair and credible election.

Not only the opposition parties, many partners of the Awami League-led 14-party alliance are also not joining.

Although Jatiya Party, the main opposition in parliament, and some partners of the ruling alliance are in the race, their participation is very poor.

JP candidates are running from six to seven upazilas for chairman post. Only one chairman candidate each from AL allies Workers Party and Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD-Inu) are in the race, according to party sources.

Jatiya Party (Manju) fielded several candidates for vice-chairman and female vice-chairman posts, but not a single one for chairman post.

One hundred fifty upazilas go to polls on May 8, with 1,588 people are in the races after withdrawal of nomination. Of them, 554 are running for chairman, 605 for vice chairman, and 429 for vice chairman reserved for women, according to EC data.

Most of these candidates belong to AL.

The AL is not allowing any of its candidates to use the party's electoral symbol, reportedly to make the polls participatory.

However, with most of the 44 registered parties boycotting, the election is set to become a race between AL leaders and activists.

In the January 7 national election, only 28 parties fielded candidates.

In the May 8 local polls, Tarikat Federation, Samyabadi Dal, National Awami Party (NAP), Communist Kendra, Gonotantri Party, among others, did not field chairman candidates.

Talking to The Daily Star, representatives of some smaller parties blamed the Election Commission's decision to increase the security deposit for chairman post from Tk 10,000 to Tk 1 lakh for their unwillingness to join the race.

Asked about fielding a single chairman candidate, JSD office secretary Shazzad Hossain said the number will go up in the later phases of the election.

Bangladesh Tariqat Federation Chairman Syed Nazibul Bashar Maizvandary said they did not make any decision to boycott the election, but his party has no candidate for chairman post.

JP (Manju) Secretary General Sheikh Shahidul Islam said some of their candidates will vie for chairman post in the subsequent phases of the local election.

JP Secretary General Mujibul Haque Chunnu said many of their aspirants are not running due to the bitter experience in the January 7 national election, especially the biased treatment of the local administration and unruly behaviour of the ruling party activists.

"But as the upazila system is the brainchild of our founder HM Ershad, we cannot boycott the election. That's why we have asked our party men to contest on their own," he said.

Although BNP is officially boycotting the race, at least 38 former and existing leaders of the party and their relatives are running for the chairman post.

According to the BNP sources, 49 incumbent and former leaders of the party had submitted nominations. On the last day of withdrawal candidature, 11 of them quit, with 38 remaining in the race.

Elections will be held in 160 upazilas across the country in the second phase on May 21. Some 35 BNP leaders submitted nomination papers to vie for chairman post in the second phase.

Although BNP has so far expelled two leaders for joining the race, a BNP leader said they are still not clear how far the party will go in this regard.

BNP and its like-minded parties had also boycotted the last and fifth upazila polls in 2019. AL-nominated candidates were elected chairman in more than two-thirds of the upazilas in that election.

Out of the 473 upazilas, ruling party candidates have won the post of chairman in 320. Of them, 115 were elected uncontested. One hundred forty-nine chairmen won as independent candidates, according to EC data.

Among the other political parties, three members of Jatiya Party and one from Jatiya Party (JP-Monju) have been elected in the chairman post in 2019 polls, EC data show.