Small political parties have so far failed to leave any mark in the ongoing Upazila Parishad elections with only one party winning a few vice-chairman posts.
Like the national elections those parties have failed to draw the attention of people in the Upazila Parishad elections too and they even failed to bag a single chairman post.
Among the Islamist parties the scenario is the same excepting the Jamaat-e-Islami. However, the Hefazat-e-Islam that claims to be a non-political organisation, won a vice-chairman post in Hathazari, known to be the stronghold of the party.
In the third spell of Upazila Parishad elections smaller parties like Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal (BSD), Workers Party of Bangladesh, Islamic Andolan, Islamic Sashantantra Andolan and Liberal Democratic Party are running the race.
Ruhin Hossain Prince, central CPB leader, said many of their candidates contested in the last two phases of polls and in the third phase nine of their contenders were vying for different posts.
Ahsanul Habib Sayeed, BSD-backed candidate in Gaibandha Sadar, said as their organisations had not been able to reach the ground level they were yet do good results in the elections.
“But this time we have two Union Parishad chairmen and we are trying to reach the grassroots and hopefully fare better in the polls,” he told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
Mihir Ghosh, CPB-backed candidate in Gaibandha Sadar upazila, said the major party candidates invested huge money in the elections and they used their musclemen in the elections that’s why the smaller parties cannot do well in the polls.
Mohammad Kamruzzaman, Islamic Andolan-backed candidate in Nawabganj upazila of Dinajpur, said the media always was busy with the big party leaders and ignored the smaller party candidates. That’s why smaller parties failed to perform better in the elections.
“Here Awami League has rebel candidate while the BNP has to face the Jamaat candidate. I have a good prospect to win the polls,” he said.
The third phase 81 upazila parishad polls will be held on Saturday amid fears of violence and clashes as the Election Commission has so far taken no effective measures except for instructing the local administration to take immediate action against violators of electoral code of conduct.
The election campaign ended in 81 Upazila Parishads yesterday. The voting will start from 8am and end at 4pm without any break.