4-party faces rebel threat in 29 seats
The BNP-led four-party alliance faces trouble in at least 29 constituencies across the country in this election as rebel leaders of alliance partners could take away large chunks of votes from alliance nominees.
Rebel BNP candidates are becoming a threat to candidates of the alliance in at least 25 constituencies while the alliance's supporters are divided in another eight seats as those have candidates of BNP and its allies. The four-party officially has four constituencies where BNP and Jamaat candidates are battling as rivals.
Alliance partners Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Oikya Jote both have two rebel candidates each fighting against alliance nominees in the polls.
In addition to this disorder in the four-party camp, Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leaders Col (retd) Oli Ahmed and Redwan Ahmed and Bikalpadhara candidates former president AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury and Maj (retd) Abdul Mannan might also be a great challenge for the four-party candidates in at least seven seats in Dhaka, Chittagong, Comilla and Noakhali. All of them had become BNP lawmakers several times in the past.
Party insiders fear that the alliance candidates may face serious trouble in those seats if the four-party high command fails to control the rebels soon.
Even the secretaries general of BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami are battling rebel candidates in their own constituencies. Former minister Chowdhury Kamal Iben Yusuf is running against Jamaat Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojahid in Faridpur-3 while student leader Tojammel Haque is contesting the polls in Manikganj-1 where BNP Secretary General Khandaker Delwar Hossain is also a candidate.
A number of district-level committees, however, already decided to expel rebel BNP candidates from the party and sent letters to the secretary general to get approval for their decision.
Narail district committee decided to expel Dhirendranath Saha, who is running in Narail-1 as an independent, while Cox's Bazar district BNP unit sent a letter to the central committee to get the approval for the expulsion order against Shahiduzzaman, who is contesting for Cox's Bazar-3. Both of them were BNP MPs in the eighth parliament.
Party leaders said many former lawmakers who had close ties with expelled BNP secretary general Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan failed to bag nominations for the polls and a number of them are contesting the polls as independents.
Mannan Bhuiyan himself is contesting the polls in Narsingdi-3 as an independent. BNP nominated Tofazzal Hossain Master in that constituency.
However, a few former lawmakers, known to have belonged to the so-called reformist faction of BNP including Saifur Rahman, Mahbubur Rahman and Hafizuddin Ahmed, got party tickets.
BNP rebel Syed Shahidul Haque Jamal, a whip of the eighth parliament, is contesting the polls in Barisal-2 and Pirojpur-1 constituencies where the four-party nominated Sharfuddin Santu and Delwar Hossain Saidee.
Shah Abul Hossain, who was a state minister in Khaleda's cabinet, is contesting in Barisal-4 as an independent against alliance nominee Mejbah Uddin Farhad. Rebel candidate Nazir Hossain is contesting the polls in Sunamganj-1 and Sunamganj-4.
BNP's Central Law Affairs Secretary Zoinul Abedin is contesting against party's Joint Secretary General Selima Rahman as an independent in Barisal-3. Former BNP lawmaker Rustom Ali Farazi is running for Pirojpur-3 where the party nominee is Shahjahan Mian. Former BNP lawmaker Shamim Kaiser of Gaibandha-4 is contesting the polls against alliance candidate and Jamaat leader Abdur Rahim Sarkar.
Former BNP lawmaker Zahiruddin Swapan, also information and research secretary of the party, is in battle with party candidate Eng Abdus Sobhan in Barisal-1. Former BNP lawmaker Fazlul Azim of Noakhali-6 is contesting the polls against party nominee Shakhawat Hossain. Former BNP legislator Syed Mokbul Hossain is trying to defeat four-party nominee for Sylhet-6 Habibur Rahman, a Jamaat leader.
BNP leaders Faruk Talukder and Shahidul Alam Talukder, also a former lawmaker, are fighting against each other in Patuakhali-2 while Tasmin Rana, who was selected MP in the reserved seat for women in parliament, is running for Madaripur-3 where the party nominated Habibur Rahman.
Kazi Sirajul Islam of Faridpur-1, who won in the 2001 elections as an Awami League candidate but later joined BNP, is contesting this year's polls as an independent. BNP and Awami League nominated Shah Abu Zafar and Abdur Rahman there.
Besides, Jalal Uddin Ahmed of Dinajpur-2, Hafizur Rahman Sarker of Dinajpur-4, Ahsan Habib Lincoln of Kushtia-2, Anisuzzaman Khokan of Kishoreganj-2, barrister Abdullah Al Mamun of Comilla-5 and Jalaluddin of Chandpur-2 might be problems for alliance candidates in their respective seats.
Meanwhile, former BNP lawmakers Oli Ahmed, standing in Chittagong-13 and Chittagong-14, and Redwan Ahmed, running for Comilla-7, are contesting as Liberal Democratic Party candidates. Bikalpadhara leader AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury is standing in Munshiganj-1 and Dhaka-6 and Bikalpadhara leader Maj Mannan is contesting the polls in Dhaka-11 and Noakhali-4.
Jamaat and alliance ally Islami Oikya Jote (IOJ) candidates are fighting against each other in Cox's Bazar-2 and IOJ and BNP candidates are running for Netrakona-3.
BNP and Jamaat both have candidates in Chapainawabganj-3, Sirajganj-4, Rajshahi-3, Jhenidah-3, Barguna-2, and Meherpur-1 even though BNP had said it was only keeping Chapainawabganj-3, Sirajganj-4, Rajshahi-3, and Jhenidah-3 open for both BNP and Jamaat candidates.
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