The Barisal 5 constituency is considered to be a stronghold of BNP, which has won the seat in every participatory election since 1979.
But the Awami League’s candidate Shawkat Hossain Hiron won from the constituency in the last general election in 2014 after the BNP-led alliance boycotted the polls.
Comprised of Barisal City Corporation and the sadar upazila, the constituency has a total of 397,267 voters.
Retaining the seat in the next election will be a big challenge for the ruling party since BNP has made it clear that it will participate in the polls scheduled for late December.
Too many candidates in AL
Local Awami League activists said the party must choose a candidate who is popular. Otherwise, it will be very difficult to retain the seat.
Jebunnesa Afroz, a political novice, became the MP from the seat after her husband Hiron’s death in April 2014. BNP had also boycotted the by-election.
The MP said she had been working for the people of her constituency and is seeking the nomination from the party to contest in the next parliamentary polls.
There are a number of nomination seekers, but all of them said they would work together for the party’s chosen candidate. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, also the Awami League president, has recently warned that renegade candidates would be expelled for life from the party, according to media report.
Awami League’s Barisal metropolitan unit chief Golam Abbas Chowdhury Dulal also wants to represent the party in the election. “There are many candidates in a big party like the Awami League. But there is no infighting,” he said.
Another aspirant is decorated freedom fighter and retired police officer Mahbub Uddin Ahmed, Bir Bikram. He had contested in the 1990 and 1996 elections from the Awami League but lost both times.
“I have many plans for Barisal and those can only be executed if I am elected to parliament,” he said over phone, adding that he would work for the party’s chosen candidate.
Sadar Upazila Chairman and Awami League’s metropolitan unit Vice-President Saidur Rahman Rintu, who says he has a clean image, is also seeking nomination. “I can turn Barisal into a commercial area if I get elected,” he said.
In addition, SR Samaj Kalyan Sangstha (social welfare foundation) founder Salauddin Ripon said he too wanted to represent the Awami League in the election. He said his organization had helped rehabilitate 17,000 women, offered free eye treatment to more than 22,000 patients and had arranged operations for 1,400 cataract patients, among other services.
“I felt the urge to join politics when working for the people,” he said.
Businessman Arifin Molla, who is active in Dhaka, is also seeking the party’s nod to contest in the polls from this constituency.
BNP activists ‘frustrated’
The morale of BNP activists is low given that the party has been out office since 2008. In Barisal, the party has not organized any big programmes in a long time.
Ehteshamul Haque Nasim Biswas, son of former president Abdur Rahman Biswas, defeated Awami League’s Mahabub Uddin by a huge margin in the seventh parliamentary polls. After Ehteshamul’s death, BNP leader Mojibor Rahman Sarwar won in the by-polls.
He also won the seat in the 2008 election.
Sarwar, a BNP joint secretary general and the party’s Barisal metropolitan unit chief, is the frontrunner for the party’s nomination.
But the party’s central Organizing Secretary Bilkis Jahan Shirin is also an aspirant. “I have been working for the people for 32 years. I was with the party through thick and thin. And I consider myself a suitable candidate for this constituency. I hope the party will consider me,” she said.
Other parties also getting ready
The Chormonai Pir has between 20,000 and 25,000 voters as his supporters.
The Pir’s Islami Andolan Bangladesh will also file a candidate in the polls. The party’s Senior Naeb-e-Ameer Syed Mohammad Muhammad Fayezul has already said he would like to contest in the polls.
From Jatiya Party, Iqbal Hossain Taposh will likely seek nomination. He has already hit the campaign trail, although the party is ravaged by infighting and conflict between its district and metropolitan units.
Apart from them, Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal’s district unit chief Imran Habib Rummon also wants to contest in the election from his party.
