Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, led by convicted war criminals, failed to secure a single chairman post in Dhaka and Barisal divisions during the last three phases of upazila parishad elections.
However, the party did better in the north-western region upazilas, thanks to its key ally BNP that traditionally maintains stronghold in the region. Jamaat also failed to show its strength in Satkhira as it secured only one chairman post out of three whereas the others were won by the Awami League-backed candidates.
Jamaat staged violent showdown across the country during the election resistance movement in November-December last year when they also kept Satkhira district isolated from rest of the country for around one month.
In the local body election, BNP-Jamaat participated jointly and in many places they jointly extended support to a single candidate through the alliance that boycotted the January 5 national elections.
In the first two phases, the BNP-Jamaat took the lead in the elections but in the third phase, the Awami League performed the best.
In the last three phases when elections were held in 295 upazilas on February 19 and 27, and March 15, the Jamaat-backed contenders bagged 12 chairman posts in Rajshahi division, seven in Rangpur and five in Khulna division.
The war crimes tribunal in its verdicts termed the party “criminal organisation” for its role against the country’s independence in 1971. A top Jamaat leader, Abdul Quader Molla, already walked to the gallows for war crimes while several others have been given death penalty for the same offence.
The High Court in August last year declared illegal its registration with the Election Commission since its party charter contradicted with the country’s constitution.
A poor picture was projected by HM Ershad’s Jatiya Party as it secured only one chairman post out of 295 – in Rangpur division, where the party is popular. Jamaat candidates got seven posts in the division whereas the Awami League bagged 17 and the BNP 19.
Interestingly, Jamaat also performed well in Bogra, the hometown of BNP founder Gen Ziaur Rahman, as they bagged five chairman posts while the same by the BNP-backed candidates.
“If the government did not interfere in the elections, we would have got more chairman seats and demonstrated our strength more significantly,” Abdullah Mohammad Taher, Central Working Committee member of Jamaat, told the Dhaka Tribune.
Taher also added that in many places they had failed to ensure single candidate. “If we could ensure single candidate, then the result would have been better.”
Of the three phases, Jamaat performed well in securing chairman posts in the first phase. But in the second phase, they started to get more vice-chairman posts. The Jamaat-backed contenders bagged 21 vice-chairman posts in the first phase, 32 in the second and 17 in the third phase.
After the verdict in Jamaat’s central leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee case, the party men went into massive rampage across the country, especially in the northern region including Bogra, Chapainawabganj, Rajshahi, Joypurhat, Gaibandha and Lalmonirhat.
Not only Jamaat but also the BNP staged its strength in the northern region as the BNP-backed contenders bagged 19 chairman posts in Rangpur division and 22 in Rajshahi while the Awami League-supported candidates secured 17 and 11 chairmen posts.
The Awami League-backed contenders took lead in Dhaka, Sylhet and Barisal divisions while the BNP in Chittagong.
In Dhaka, the Awami League-backed candidates secured 38 chairman posts while those backed by the BNP won in 35 seats. Ershad’s JaPa and Jamaat got no seats in the division.
The candidates supported by the Awami League and the BNP came out neck and neck in Sylhet division where the ruling party-backed candidates bagged nine and the BNP eight chairman posts. Jamaat got two seats.
In Barisal division, the Awami League-backed contenders got absolute majority as they bagged nine chairman posts while the BNP-backed candidates got just three. In this division, at least in eight upazilas, the BNP-backed candidates boycotted the elections alleging vote rigging and illegal stamping by the ruling party men.
There were incidents of stray violence in the first phase of polls but it increased in the second phase. In the third phase, violence took a serious turn as three people were killed and clashes took place at a number of places.
Regional political parties like the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (PCJSS) and the United Peoples Democratic Front (UPDF) backed candidates bagged nine chairman posts.
