Bogra has long been a BNP stronghold due to the dominance of the Zia family in the district.
BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia was elected an MP the three times she participated in general elections from Bogra 6 constituency, which has 392,747 registered voters across Bogra Sadar upazila.
Her late husband, the BNP founder and former Bangladesh president Ziaur Rahman, was born in Gabtali upazila in the neighbouring Bogra 7 constituency, from where Khaleda Zia has also been elected to parliament.
It has 454,030 voters spread across Shajahanpur and Gabtali upazilas.
A void has opened up in both seats as the 11th national election approaches, however, since Khaleda Zia was sentenced to a total of 17 years behind bars in two separate graft cases.
And while several senior BNP leaders are looking towards her son, Tarique Rahman, to help them secure a nomination in Bogra 6 and 7, the party’s acting chairperson is prevented from returning to Bangladesh from exile in the UK.
He was sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment in the August 21 grenade attack case last month, and was also handed a ten-year tariff in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case in February.
The strong historical ties and pervading sense of injustice felt by BNP supporters in Bogra have helped the country’s main opposition party to retain a strong foothold in the district.
Although Bogra 6 and 7 are both held by the Jatiya Party, BNP leaders and activists are confident of bagging around 80% of the votes and stealing both seats if a “free, fair and participatory” election is held.
Bogra 6
In the enforced absence of Khaleda Zia, the nomination for her old Bogra 6 seat is being sought by a field of candidates including the Bogra BNP president, Saiful Islam, who promised to carry on the Zia family legacy of development in the upazila.
“I have been working with Bogra BNP to strengthen their foundation for a long period,” he said. “I strongly believe if the chairperson or the acting chairperson nominates me, and if the election is held transparently, I will win the seat with a huge number of votes.“
Another BNP candidate in Bogra 6 is the local party’s general secretary, Joynal Abedin.
„I have worked to make the Bogra BNP well-organized (so) if the party nominates me, I will stand for the election,” he said. “If the election is held in a free and impartial manner, I am confident BNP will win all the constituencies in Bogra.“
The incumbent MP for Bogra 6, however, is the Jatiya Party chief whip, Nurul Islam Omar. Nurul won uncontested in the 2014 election after BNP boycotted the polls and Awami League stood aside for its alliance partner.
„The people have seen the activities that I undertook to make progress in my upazila,” he said. “I am confident that if I get the nomination again, they will vote for me this time as well. But if the party Chairman Hussain Muhammad Ershad does not give me a nomination, I will respect the party‘s decision.”
Although the Awami League has never before won Bogra 6, the decision to leave the path clear for JaPa five years ago was criticised by grassroots leaders and activists, who think the move ruined Awami League‘s political image in Sadar upazila.
The lingering resentment has fuelled the rise of several new AL faces, who have been actively campaigning in their areas and lobbying with central Awami League members in their bids for the nomination.
They claim their party has never been stronger, particularly - they say - because BNP has lost much credibility among the locals following the violence and anarchy it instigated in the name of protest in 2013 and 2015.
„I have been increasing mass communication within the upazila for a while (and) if the high command wants it, I will participate in the coming election,“ the vice-president of Bogra Awami League and a member of Bangladesh Bar Council, Advocate Rezaul Karim Montu, told the Dhaka Tribune.
Another potential candidate, the vice-president of central sub-committee Shakhawat Hossain Shafique, said he believed that his party will nominate the “most modern and worthy candidate, who will be able to fight lawlessness and build a better Bogra“.
General Secretary of Bogra Jubo League Aminul Islam Dablu, who also seeks a nomination, said he has been affiliated with politics since his student life.
Central executive member of JaSad Advocate Emdadul Haque Emdad is standing for the election for JaSad, while Bogra Workers‘ Party President Advocate Abdur Razzak will stand in behalf of his party.
General Secretary of Bogra Communist Party Aminul Farid will compete with his party‘s symbol in the upcoming 11th general election.
Bogra 7
With Khaleda Zia unable to participate in the polls, local BNP activists and leaders want Tarique Rahman‘s wife, Dr Zubaida Rahman, to contest the Bogra 7 seat.
“Bogra 7 belongs to the Zia family - no one else collects nomination papers from here,” the BNP central leader and former MP, Helaluzzaman Talukder Lalu, said.
Lalu - a close associate of Tarique - said he would be prepared to stand in the absence of a member of the Zia family.
“I was never a nomination aspirant,” he said. “Only following the directions of our chairperson I participated three times in the by-elections. If no one from the Zia family participates in the upcoming elections only then, if the high command selects me, I will participate.”
Other potential candidates waiting in the wings include Shajahanpur upazila chair Sarker Badal, Gabtoli upazila BNP general secretary and upazila chair Morshed Milton, District BNP Agriculture Affairs Secretary and Shajahanpur Branch BNP Convener Abul Bashar.
With BNP staging a boycott and the Awami League standing aside in 2014, the seat was won for the ruling alliance by Advocate Altaf Ali Manju of the Jatiya Party (JaPa). Altaf Ali has drawn the ire of local leaders and activists of the ruling alliance, however, who claim he is involved in controversial and illegal activities.
“No matter what others say, I have done a lot for the development of this area,” the current lawmaker said. “Thus I am hopeful of getting nomination from the AL led-grand alliance. If not, then I will follow the orders of my party president, Hussain Mohammad Ershad.”
Among Altaf Ali’s critics is the district Jatiya Party organizing secretary and former student leader, Lutfar Rahman Sarkar Swapan, who is another potential JaPa candidate.
“I have done a lot for the party and am confident that Jatiya Party will consider him as a candidate of the grand alliance,” he said.
Awami League has long been trying to secure Bogra 7, but has failed.
As the 11th national election approaches, the district party is not short of experienced aspirants. Its joint secretary, T Zaman Niketa, came into politics in 1978 through the Bangladesh Chhatra League, and says he wants to be the new torch barrier of Awami League in this seat.
T Zaman will be challenged by a wide field including District Panel Chairman AKM Asadur Rahman Dulu, Bogra Branch BMA President Dr Mustafa Alam Nannu, and the former MP for Bogra-Joypurhat, Kamrun Nahar Putul.
No candidates from the non-registered party Jamaat-e-Islami were seen campaigning in the constituency.