As the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) refuses to join any election under the Awami League government, questions have arisen over whom BNP supporters will vote for if they choose to participate in the upcoming Barisal City Corporation (BCC) election, scheduled for Monday.
A clear answer, however, remains elusive.
In the BCC election back in 2013, the BNP secured nearly 40% of the total number of votes, with BNP-nominated mayoral candidate Ahsan Habib Kamal securing 83,751 votes, defeating Awami League-backed candidate Shawkat Hossain Hiron by a significant margin.
Kamrul Ahsan Rupon, son of Ahsan Habib Kamal, hopes to recreate that success, as an independent mayoral candidate.
Despite his previous affiliation as a member of the central committee of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, the BNP's student wing, and a self-proclaimed “member of the BNP family”, Rupon was expelled by the BNP for contesting the polls.
Besides Kamrul Ahsan Rupon, there are 18 councillor candidates from the BNP, indicating that a percentage of BNP voters might vote in favour of them in the BCC polls.
A representative of Rupon's election campaign met with former mayor Mujibur Rahman Sarwar and BNP leader Ebaydul Haque Chan last week, seeking their support. However, Barisal Metropolitan BNP Convenor Moniruzzaman Farooq said the BNP is not joining this election and even wants to stop it.
BNP Barisal Divisional Organizing Secretary Bilkis Akhtar Jahan Shirin maintained that no one should participate in this election and that those who are have been expelled.
“We have even been discouraging our voters from going to polling centres. The party is therefore not involved in any aspect of this election,” said Bilkis Akhtar.
Senior BNP politicians claimed that the party has about 100,000 voters in Barisal city. Therefore, some of them may go to the polling centres to cast their votes for candidates who have close ties with the BNP.
The Jatiya Party's (JaPa) mayoral candidate, Iqbal Hossain Taposh, brother of Jubo Dal leader Taslim Uddin, is also expected to attract some BNP voters due to the “ideological similarities” between the two parties, said JaPa's chief election agent for the BCC polls, Mohsin Ul Islam Habul.
On the other hand, Islami Andolan Bangladesh's mayoral candidate, Mufti Syed Mohammad Faizul Karim, is going door-to-door to win BNP supporters over through campaigning.
Karim said BNP voters might support the hand-fan symbol due to the BNP's absence in the election and the party's “Islamic ideologies.”
Surprisingly, a BNP supporter from ward No 17 expressed support for the boat (Awami League's electoral symbol) candidate, saying they might see some development in Barisal if the Awami League were to win the polls.
Meanwhile, Enayet Hossain Chowdhury, former district organizer of the Fair Election Monitoring Alliance (FEMA), pointed out that EVMs, which require votes for all three posts (mayor, general councillor and reserved female councillor candidates) simultaneously, may deter voters who wish to cast a single vote for one of the three posts.
As election day approaches, the political landscape of Barisal City Corporation continues to evolve amid uncertainty and anticipation.
