The ruling Awami League's 62 chairman candidates have been elected unopposed in the first phase of union parishad (UP) polls.
No independents or candidates of other parties are running in those
UPs, which are mostly in Bagerhat, Khulna, Jhalakathi, Gopalganj, Bhola,
Barisal, Brahmanbaria, Barguna, Madaripur, and Satkhira.
Talking to The Daily Star, former election commissioner M Sakhawat Hussain termed the AL men being elected unopposed “unusual”.
"As per my experience, I think the union parishad polls are the most
competitive elections at grassroots level. In the past, a huge number of
candidates contested the polls," he said.
But now the scenario is different in some UPs, he said, adding that the EC should investigate the matter.
The EC, however, finds nothing wrong.
Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad on March 3 told
reporters that if people did not file nominations, there was nothing
wrong in some people getting elected unopposed.
However, media reports said AL men allegedly obstructed BNP-nominated
candidates and AL's rebel aspirants from submitting their nomination
papers before the returning officers in many UPs on February 22, the
last date for filing nomination for the first phase of polls.
For the first time, elections to UP chairman post will be held on
partisan lines. Apart from the first phase, elections to around 650 UPs
will be held on March 31 in second phase. The rest of the over 2,800 UPs
will go to polls in another four phases until June.
Meanwhile, smaller political parties have showed poor response to the
polls. Just nine parties fielded only 89 chairman aspirants in the
first phase on March 22, when 732 posts would be up for grabs.
Nazrul
Islam Belal, a chairman candidate for the upcoming polls in
Khadimpara-4 Union of Sylhet Sadar upazila, running election campaign in
Pirer Bazar area on Saturday. Election to 738 UPs will be held on March
22 in the first phase, while the second phase is scheduled for March
31. Photo: Star
Out of 40 registered political parties, 16 expressed their
willingess to contest the polls. Finally, 13 fielded candidates while
three parties -- Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (Rob), Bangladesh Islami Front
and Bangladesh Kallyan Party -- could not field any candidate.
In the case of small parties, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) nominated
29, Workers' Party of Bangladesh (WPB) 23, Jatiya Party (JP-Manju) 17,
Bangladesh Nationalist Front (BNF) 7, Communist Party of Bangladesh
(CPB) 4, Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh (BDB) 4, Bangladesh National Awami
Party (NAP) 3, Bangladesh Tariqat Federation 1 and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam
Bangladesh 1.
About this, Sakhawat told The Daily Star it reflects that small
political parties could not flourish in Bangladesh. Most of them do not
have activities at the grassroots level.
Small political parties should beef up their organisational strength
and enhance political activities at the grassroots level for the sake of
developing democratic culture in Bangladesh, he viewed.
The BNP has no candidates in 119 UPs. The party could not field
candidates in 70 UPs and its nominations of candidates were cancelled by
returning officers in 49 UPs, according to the statistics of the
Election Commission.
Islami Andolon Bangladesh (IAB), however, fielded chairman aspirants
in 227 UPs, while the main opposition Jatiya Party (JP) nominated its
candidates in 127 UPs.
