Since the 2008 election, the ruling Awami League has been dominant in the Dhaka-5 constituency (Demra-Motijheel). Late BNP leader Habibur Rahman Mollah was reelected three straight times from the constituency.
After he died on May 6, 2020, Md Kazi Monirul Islam Monu got the nomination for the by-polls held on October 17 which saw a 10.43% turnout despite the Covid-19 pandemic.
The election was held in a free and fair manner with no reports of violence. However, only 49,141 out of 471,129 voters of Jatrabari, Demra, Matuail, Donia and Sarulia areas exercised their franchise.
(From left) Md Kazi Monirul Islam Monu, Habibur Rahman Mollah and Maj (Retd) Md Kamrul Islam Collected The AL nominee bagged 45,642 votes (93.6%) while BNP candidate Salah Uddin Ahmed got only 2,926 votes (5.95%). The Jatiya Party (JaPa-Ershad) nominee Mir Abdus Sabur got the third-highest 413 votes (0.84%).
Born in 1952, Kazi Monirul is the president of Jatrabari thana AL and a businessman by profession.
Dhaka Tribune notes a shifting political landscape in Dhaka-5 since 1973 when the AL won the seat six times while the BNP got it four times—including party chief Khaleda Zia in 1991—and once by the JaPa in 1988.
The constituency saw changes in the boundaries in 1986 and 2008.
This exhaustive analysis depicts the 11 parliamentary election outcomes to identify patterns and trends in the electoral landscape of the constituency ahead of the twelfth national election.
Previous polls
Veteran AL politician and businessman Habibur Rahman won the 11th parliamentary election on December 30, 2018, when the turnout was 68.7%. The total number of voters was 450,608.
The AL leader got 220,083 votes (71.1%) while Md Nabiullah of the BNP bagged 67,572 votes (21.8%) and Mohammad Altaf Hossain of the Islami Andolan Bangladesh (IAB) got 14,674 votes (4.7%).
In the 2014 election, boycotted by the BNP, the AL's Habibur Rahman got 106,666 votes (95%) while Arzu Shah Sayedabadi of Bangladesh Tarikat Federation secured only 2,437 votes (2.1%).
In 2008, when the AL returned to power, Habibur won against the BNP's Salah Uddin Ahmed by a margin of over 50,000 votes, with voter turnout being 78.5%. He bagged 153,144 votes (53.9%) and the BNP candidate got 99,895 votes (35.2%). The incumbent lawmaker of Dhaka-4, JaPa Co-Chairman and industrialist Sayed Abu Hossain Babla, got the third highest 17,246 votes (6.1%).
Habibur earlier became an MP from the Dhaka-4 constituency in the June 25 election of 1996 election defeating Salah Uddin.
In 2001, the BNP's Major (Retd) Md Kamrul Islam won against the AL's AKM Rahmatullah in a competitive election when the turnout was 61.8%. Kamrul got 211,440 votes (54%) while Rahmatullah bagged 166,832 votes (42.6%) and Md Alfaz Uddin of Islami Oikyo Front secured 11,558 votes (3%).
The AL candidate earlier won the election in June 1996 against his rival, securing 132,443 votes (47.5%). The BNP's Kamrul got 109,370 votes (39.2%). The election saw a turnout of 68.4%.
In the February 15 election of 1996, the BNP candidate was elected unopposed in this constituency.
In the fifth national election held on February 27, 1991, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia won five seats, including Dhaka-5, where voter turnout was 47.7%.
Her closest rival was former home minister Sahara Khatun. Khaleda Zia got 71,266 votes (51.5%) and Sahara 45,811 votes (33.1%). Independent candidate Mohammad Siraj Uddin Ahmed, who won the 1988 election from the Jatiya Party, obtained the third position by securing 10,725 votes (7.7%).
Earlier, the AL's Rahmat Ullah won the seat in 1986. Earlier, M Hamidullah Khan of the BNP won the seat in 1979 and Shah Moazzem Hossain got it in 1973.
