Even the last day of electioneering was marred by attacks on four aspirants from the BNP and the Jatiya Party yesterday, leaving at least 15 people injured.

With the electioneering for the 11th parliamentary polls scheduled to end at 8:00am today, Awami League candidates were seen vigorously campaigning in different places across the country.

However, their archrival, the BNP candidates, and even candidates of Jatiya Party, AL's election ally, were hardly seen, in a scenario prevalent throughout the 17-day campaigning, when ruling party men electioneered whilst others allegedly faced attacks or police harassment.

Besides, at least 40 BNP-Jamaat men were arrested on different charges in different districts yesterday.

In Pabna, at least three supporters of Jatiya Oikyafront candidate for Pabna-1 Prof Abu Sayeed were injured when alleged AL men attacked his motorcade in Selonda Bazar area of Santhia upazila. However, Sayeed remained unhurt.

“We were out campaigning and when our motorcade reached Selonda Bazar area where a group of criminals attacked our team. They opened fire and vandalised [the vehicles],” Sayeed said, while talking to The Daily Star.

Asked, Tapon Haider Sun, Santhia upazila unit AL general secretary, said, “We are busy with our campaign. I don't know any news of such attacks.”

Contacted, Md Jahangir Hossain, officer-in-charge (OC) of Santhia Police Station, said, “There was a police protection team but the attackers came suddenly and attacked. Police charged batons to disperse the attackers and brought the situation under control quickly.”

Sayeed had come under criminal attacks repeatedly around 17 to 18 times since campaigning began on December 10.

Elsewhere in Chattogram, at least three persons were injured when miscreants attacked the motorcade of JP aspirant for Chattogram-16 Mahmudul Islam Chowdhury in Green Park area of Banshkhali upazila yesterday morning. However, the candidate was unhurt.

“I was campaigning in the area and when my motorcade reached Green Park area, miscreants threw stones targeting our motorcade and attacked us with sharp weapons,” Mahmudul, also a former mayor of the Chattogram City Corporation, told The Daily Star.

He, however, could not identify the attackers. But he alleged that police were present on the spot and played a silent role.

Contacted, Kamal Hossain, OC of Banshkhali Police Station said, “It was not a big incident. While they [the candidate and his supporters] were returning after electioneering some miscreants threw stones at their vehicles.”

This was the second attack on Mahmudul in a span of a week. On December 21, at least 24 of his activists sustained bullets injuries when alleged ruling party men attacked his rally in Banshkhali upazila's Chambal Bazar area.

In Cumilla, nine BNP men were injured when alleged AL men attacked the campaign of BNP candidate for Cumilla-5 constituency Md Yunus in Nimshar Mokam area under Burichang upazila around 2:00pm yesterday.

Md Masud, president of Nimshar Mokam union unit Jubo league, denied the allegation and said BNP men attacked AL men who were holding a meeting in the area.

Akul Chandra Biswas, OC of Burichang Police Station, said, “Hearing news of the violence, police rushed to the spot and safely rescued the BNP candidate from the spot and took him to his residence. If the candidate files any compliant, then we will take action.”  

In Mymensingh, miscreants allegedly attacked the campaign of BNP's candidate for Mymensingh-3 M Iqbal Hossain and vandalised his car in Tangadipara village under Bokainagar union of Gouripur upazila yesterday afternoon.

Talking to journalists, Iqbal alleged that he had been campaigning at different spots since morning but when he came to Tangadipara at afternoon, miscreants attacked him with local weapons and vandalised his car to create panic among the BNP men and common people.

After the incident, Iqbal filed complaint with the local returning officer.

Iqbal also alleged that he, along with his supporters, faced obstructions in electioneering since the beginning of electioneering. He also claimed that police filed case against those who were involved BNP politics and even arrested some of them.

Contacted, OC of Gouripur Police Station Abdullah Al Mamun, said none filed any compliant regarding the incident. But he later heard that that villagers had clashed with Iqbal as he had gone there to distribute money.

Meanwhile in Kishoreganj, a local BNP leader died after suffering a cardiac arrest which was apparently triggered by police firing blanks at the residence of BNP's candidate for Kishoreganj-5 Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at Sararchar union under Bajitpur upazila yesterday evening.

The deceased was identified as Shaheed Miah, vice president of Sararchar union unit BNP.

BNP men alleged that Mujibur had held a press conference at noon at his residence where he expressed concerns over his life's security ahead of the polls. Later in the evening, police raided his residence where they fired blanks and beat up BNP men.

At that time, Shaheed Miah was in his nearby office.

Hearing the sound of gun fire and seeing police action on BNP men, Shaheed panicked and went into a cardiac arrest. Then, Shaheed was taken to the local hospital where on-duty doctors declared him dead, said Mazaharul Islam, nephew of Shaheed.

Contacted, Shafiqul Islam, inspector (investigation) of Bajitpur police station, said a clash had erupted between the supporters of AL and BNP and police opened fire to disperse them.

Asked about the death, Shafiqul said he knew nothing about the death.

In Cox's Bazar, at least seven people were injured when police charged baton on the activists of BNP's nominee for Cox's Bazar-3 candidate Lutfor Rahman Kajol in Kurushkul while they were going to attend the last day's election rally yesterday.

Police lobbed two rounds of tear shells and fired several rounds of blanks.

Sources said activists of Kajol were coming from Cox's Bazar city and the adjoining city areas to attend the rally at the tourist city at 3:00 pm.

But police charged baton on them at several places, including Kurushkul connecting road, Kolatoli, Kalur Dokan area and Bus terminal area.

Officer-in-charge of Cox's Bazar Sadar Model Police Station Farid Uddin Khandokar said they were carrying sticks during the procession.

They tried to disperse them when they refused to leave, he said.

In a different sort of incident in Manikganj, BNP candidate for Manikganj-1 Khondaker Abdul Hamid Dablu, whose nomination was declared valid by the High Court on December 24, has been virtually confined to his residence at Pachuria village under Ghiorupazila for the last two days.

Police were maintaining a round the clock presence in front of Dablu's residence and were arresting any BNP activist who came out of his home.

Talking to The Daily Star, Bablu said none of their supporters now come to meet Dablu in fear of arrests. Besides, AL men on motorcycles ride around the residence in intervals to spread panic.

Currently, Dablu has not been able to get out of his house and conduct electioneering, alleged Bablu.

Rifat Rahman Shamim, police superintendent in the district, rejected the allegation and said police had not gone to Dablu's residence.

Meanwhile in Narayanganj, police arrested five of a family, including the parents of a supporter of independent candidate for Narayanganj-3 Abdullah Al Kaiser, from Senpara area under Kanchpur upazila in the early hours of yesterday.

Police claimed that they had recovered drugs and locally-made weapons from the arrestees. The victims' relatives rejected the allegations.

Meanwhile, an Awami League supporter has been beaten to death allegedly by BNP supporters at Nolkot village of Sylhet Sadar upazila under Sylhet-1 constituency yesterday night at around 10:00pm.

The deceased, Koysor Miah, 35, son of Mahmud Ali of the village, is a Kuwait expatriate and had recently returned to Bangladesh.

Badar Uddin Ahmed Kamran, president of Sylhet city AL and the convenor of AL candidate for Sylhet-1's electoral management committee, said, “He, along with some other supporter, went out of his house with the AL candidate's leaflet to distribute in the village and locked into an altercation with some BNP supporters.”

BNP supporters then apparently beat him to death.

Denying the allegation, Ali Ahmed, general secretary of Sylhet district BNP, said that the incident might have been related to an intra-party feud of AL.

SM Shahadat Hossain, officer-in-charge of Jalalabad Police Station, confirmed the incident without naming any accused and said police were looking into the matter.

Besides, police arrested eight BNP-Jamaat men in Mymensingh, two in Chattogram, two in Chapainawabganj and 28 in Sylhet yesterday on different criminal charges.

Since electioneering began on December 10, motorcades, campaign rallies and offices and even houses of at least 56 contestants, mostly from BNP, have been attacked by alleged supporters of AL at different places across the country.

Around 790 BNP-Jamaat men were arrested during the time while 1,175 people, including candidates, were injured from many parties, including the left ones.

The attacks did not even spare the candidates of Jatiya Party and Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh, both electoral allies of the AL.

There was even no respite from violence even after deployment of army on December 24.

'SITUATION UNDER CONTROL'

Election Commissioner Brig Gen (Retd) Shahadat Hossain Chowdhury yesterday claimed that the situation was under control. “I admit that a bit of tension is prevailing centring the election. I want to term it 'political heat',” he told reporters at the Nirbachan Bhaban.

He also said that armed forces would act only when police, Rapid Action Battalion and Border Guard Bangladesh failed to control any untoward incident during the election.

"There are police, Rab and BGB to maintain law and order. The armed forces will intervene where police, Rab and BGB fail. The armed forces are our last resort," he added. 

The absence of strong candidates running against ruling party contenders in the upcoming elections to the five city corporations raises concerns about the credibility and acceptability of the polls, said discussants at a programme yesterday.

They also said people's expectation of a competitive polls would not be fulfilled as major opposition BNP and other parties boycotted the polls.

Read more

BNP goes for all-out boycott of five city polls

Sushashoner Jonno Nagorik virtually organised the roundtable titled "The upcoming city corporation elections: relevant thoughts."

"The upcoming elections to the five city corporations have great significance as it will indicate how the next national polls will be," said Badiul Alam Majumdar, secretary of Shujan.

Without mentioning the name of a major opposition party, he said the party is not joining the five city polls. For this, the polls would not be competitive.

"But election means voters will choose their candidates. As the elections are not competitive, these will not be acceptable," he said.

Read more

Gazipur city a jinx for mayors?

Addressing the event, Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hussain, a former election commissioner, criticised the Election Commission for failing to create a conducive environment for voters so that they can go to the polling centres without any fear and obstacle.

He added that if the elections are not competitive, voters will not show interest in casting votes.

Sakhawat said even activists of political parties will not go to polling centres because they know that their candidates will win.

The former election commissioner said the EC cannot prove its capability by holding the five city polls as the polls are going to be lopsided.

Tofail Ahmed, a local governance expert, said the election process is not followed properly as there is a lack of competitiveness.

He added that a new trend is seen that the EC and government officials are favouring the candidates of the party that is in power.

Read more

Trouble brewing in AL’s backyard

Asif Nazrul, professor of Dhaka University's law department, said people are losing their interest in casting votes as various irregularities are taking place in the elections held under the Awami League government. "Only a caretaker government can hold a fair and acceptable election."

Presiding over the programme, Shujan President M Hafiz Uddin Khan said our electoral system has been completely destroyed, and the mindset to restore it is lacking within the political parties.

Hafiz, also former adviser to a caretaker government, said it is seen that free and fair elections can only be held under a caretaker government system. "So, this system should be restored."

In the run-up to the national election, the international community is showing increasing interest in Bangladesh, which is due to the prevailing geopolitical landscape as well as its prospect of becoming a larger economy in the coming years. The country is going to graduate from the Least Developed Country (LDC) to the Developing Country category in 2026 by fulfilling the criteria based on per capita income, human asset index, and economic vulnerability index. It is currently implementing Sustainable Development Goals and has made progress in many areas compared to its peers.

Bangladesh's economic success has been due to its relatively steady growth compared to many developing countries. In the pre-Covid era, the average growth of the economy was over six percent for about a decade. But starting in early 2020 and after the Ukraine war in February 2022, the economy experienced some dampening, leading to slower growth. Still, while in FY2020 the GDP growth was 3.45 percent, it went up to 6.03 percent during FY2023. With accelerated growth, there has also been social progress. The poverty rate has declined, and so have child and maternal mortality, while life expectancy has increased. Bangladesh now aspires to be an upper middle-income country by 2031 and a developed country by 2041.

Read more

Are individual districts falling behind, while Bangladesh develops as a whole?

Often, the growth story is linked to the so-called stability narrative. It is claimed that since there are no political disturbances from opposition parties, the government could succeed in navigating the country forward.

Ironically, under the shadow of stability, the quality of economics and politics has been compromised. Economic growth has not been coupled with the expected outcomes. Urgent issues such as job creation for the youth, domestic resource mobilisation, efficient public expenditure, and higher private investment need more attention. Inequality continues to rise. The latest Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) 2022 reveals that the Gini coefficient has increased. This implies that the rise in per capita income has not been distributed evenly across the population. And shocks such as the pandemic, natural disasters and inflationary pressure continue to push poor and low-income households further behind.

The manifestation of inequality is the fast-growing number of the superrich in Bangladesh. Wealth creation is good but only with an even distribution. Moreover, not all of this wealth is earned, as the wealthy include loan defaulters, beneficiaries of undue government support, and rentseekers.

Higher growth has also not created enough jobs. The Labour Force Survey (LFS) 2022 indicates that average unemployment has declined from 4.2 percent in 2016-17 to 3.6 percent in 2022. But the definition of unemployment is based on the conventional definition of the International Labour Organization's (ILO) unrealistic benchmark, which considers a person employed if that person has worked even an hour in a week. Moreover, unemployment among the young population is much higher than the national average. The LFS 2022 has not revealed the youth unemployment rate yet. However, the youth unemployment rate was 10.6 percent in the LFS 2016-17.

Read more

‘Louha tribhuj’ and the political economy of development

Despite stability, private investment has not been energised for long. And stability has not reduced unpredictability. On average, private investment has been hovering around 24 percent of GDP, which is inadequate for a growing economy. Due to low domestic private investment, there is slow foreign direct investment (FDI). Despite the fact that the government has been trying to attract FDI through favourable policies, there is still a lack of enthusiasm. Though Bangladesh is a growing economy, and the market size is expected to grow, it is yet to become a production hub for international manufacturers. The government has allocated land for special economic zones to both private and foreign investors, but the progress has generally been slow. Ease of doing business must be ensured by improving infrastructure, removing red-tapism, ensuring policy clarity, adopting technology, and improving human resource quality.

Stability has protected the nexus between capital and political power. Massive conflicts of interest prevail in the system since many policymakers have stakes in fiscal, monetary, trade and other sectoral policies. Many in the periphery of political power have also been rehabilitated and rewarded. Hence, they do not want any changes (or disturbances) in this stability. Of course, democracy would require accounting of all unearned money and transparency of public expenditure.

The unique location in the Bay of Bengal, coupled with its economic rise, has increased Bangladesh's importance in the region. Our stability has been supported by some international partners. As such, Bangladesh has been conducting a balancing act between two competing countries, China and India, quite well. Both China and India are important trading partners and have provided us with loans of various sizes. Naturally, they have an active interest in Bangladesh.

Read more

Five concerns that the FY2024 budget fails to address

Bangladesh's geographical position has also increased its geostrategic significance for the US as the latter aims to contain Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific region. The current US position is to deal with Bangladesh-related issues through the prism of India. Stability is important for the US, too, but not at the cost of democracy. The US has made this clear in its recent policies, which have been geared towards promoting democracy in Bangladesh.

Additionally, the EU Election Exploratory Mission is currently visiting Bangladesh. They will undertake an assessment of the political environment and electoral framework, in close partnership and consultation with all stakeholders.

These developed countries are important stakeholders as Bangladesh's economy is connected to them through trade, remittances, investment, education, science and technology, and much more. Therefore, it is natural that they would have a keen interest in Bangladesh's politics and election administration.

But, ideally, this should not have been the case. Bangladesh should have been capable of holding an acceptable, high-quality national election on its own. Unfortunately, the credibility of the past two general elections has been questioned. The stability of power has probably been consolidated, but democracy has weakened. A transition to democracy and the nurturing of the democratic process will be painful and difficult. And the upcoming polls will be a test for Bangladesh to prove its capability and willingness to hold a high-quality election that will not be questioned within or outside the country. A democratic culture is crucial for sustaining the economic growth the country has achieved so far, and for distributing the benefits of this growth among all citizens of the country.

Dr Fahmida Khatun is executive director at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) and non-resident senior fellow of the Atlantic Council. Views expressed in this article are the author's own.

Eminent writer Humayun Azad wrote a novel in 1995 titled "Shob Kichhu Bhenge Pore," which roughly translates to "everything falls apart." As if keeping with the literal spirit of the words, many things have fallen apart or collapsed in Bangladesh since then.

We have seen a bridge collapse even before its inauguration. We have seen factory buildings collapse like houses of cards. We have even witnessed the walls of houses built under the prime minister's Ashrayan Project start to crack within days of people moving into them. But most recently, we saw a stage, laden with budding Awami League leaders, collapse.

It was a grand event marking the 75th anniversary of the ruling Awami League's student wing, the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), and they had invited the party's spokesperson, Obaidul Quader, to address the ceremony. Just as the AL general secretary, surrounded by Chhatra League leaders, began his speech as chief guest, the stage caved in under the weight of the dignitaries gathered atop it.

It was not, however, the first time that such a thing has happened in Bangladeshi politics with too many people on the stage. It has happened before, notably in Anwara of Chattogram when a BNP policymaker, Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, was delivering his speech.

Read more

Can AL rely on its old guard to counter new challenges?

Obaidul Quader recovered soon to stand up and resume his speech. He said, given the recent context of events, that the collapse was only inevitable. "But I'll have to say we don't need so many leaders on the stage. Actually, we don't need so many leaders. We need more activists. We don't need so many leaders. Instead of sitting in the front row, people are crowding the stage during programmes. Why? Why do we need so many leaders? We don't need to produce leaders. We need to produce party workers."

But Quader's call for more activists than leaders comes as a surprise. It is not the first time he has made the comment. We all know that the ruling AL, one of the country's oldest political parties, finds its strength in its strong organisation that stretches all the way to the grassroots of the country, where they have an army of dedicated activists and supporters. Grassroots leaders are the heart of the party.

So, what has changed that the party now feels the need for more activists? Isn't it an ominous sign for a party, which has been in office for three terms, to call for more activists?

After assuming office in 2009, the AL started establishing its dominance in politics. Due to its strength, and elimination or weakening of opposition forces, opposition activists started joining the ruling Awami League. The party's senior leaders, on several occasions, warned about such "hybrid" leaders or infiltrators. Seasoned party leaders alleged that the dedicated and tested leaders had been sidelined by the hybrids.

The situation turned worse after the 2014 election, which gave a sense to ruling party members that securing a nomination or blessings from the party was enough to win the polls, since they would be virtually unopposed. This made businessmen desperate to get closer to power. And we saw a number of media reports stating that nominations were given to persons who had very little or no connection to politics, let alone to Awami League's politics. Around 62 percent of the lawmakers in the current parliament are from the business community. This indicates that politics is dominated by businessmen, not by politicians.

The dominance of bureaucracy is also noticeable. The influence of bureaucracy on Bangladeshi politics is nothing new, but its dominance is rising. The situation has reached such an extent that senior lawmakers, including former ministers, have expressed their grievances regarding this in parliament.

But again, it is the ruling party that paved the way for bureaucrats to meddle with politics. That's why we see that, from elections to relief distribution, bureaucrats are at the fore of everything.

Read more

When too many crowd, the stage breaks down

Bangladesh is just about a year away from its next parliamentary election. And this time, the situation is very challenging for the ruling party, compared to what it was in the last two elections of 2014 and 2018. After the death of HT Imam, co-chairman of the Awami League Election Steering Committee, there was a rumour that a former government official may take charge in his stead. But people have little idea about who it will finally be.

The recent outgoing cabinet secretary, Kabir Bin Anwar, went to Awami League president Sheikh Hasina's Dhanmondi office a few days after beginning his post-retirement leave. Although party leaders are tight-lipped, inside sources say he might become the next head of the party's election steering committee.

When bureaucrats keep getting billed for the top election job in the most political of exercises, it is bound to turn away the party's seasoned, tested and dedicated leaders – along with their support base at the grassroots. An embarrassing stage collapse could well be an ominous sign of the party's bedrock caving in.

Mohammad Al-Masum Molla is deputy chief reporter at The Daily Star.