Jamaat leaders gearing up for upazila election
To join 1st phase of polls as independents; campaigns on in several districts
Many leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami are going to take part in the upcoming upazila polls as independents.
The leaders have already started campaigning in advance in different districts where the polls will be held on May 8, the first phase.
Many printed posters which have been circulated in their upazilas. The leaders are seeking votes, report our correspondents in the districts, including Khulna and Satkhira.
Speaking to The Daily Star, Jamaat Assistant Secretary General Abdul Halim yesterday said, "Jamaat-e-Islami will not contest the upazila election as a political party. However, some grassroots leaders have decided that they will run."
Asked whether the party will take any action against those participating in the polls, Halim said they will decide on this later after discussing the matter in the party forums.
Sources in Jamaat said party leaders will contest the elections particularly in those upazilas where there is a strong possibility of its leaders' victories. The party's upazila and district committees have been given the job of deciding from where the leaders would run and who would run.
Jamaat is not registered with the Election Commission as a political party. Therefore, its candidates will take part in the upazila polls as independents.
The upazila parishad elections will be held in four phases starting from May 8.
Many other opposition political parties, including BNP, boycotted the January 7 parliamentary polls as their demand for holding the general election under a non-party neutral government was not met.
Apart from Jamaat, another Islamist party Islami Andolon Bangladesh (IAB) said they have decided to stay away from the upazila polls like they did in the case of the Jatiya Sangsad elections.
"We have already sent instructions to the grassroots leaders not to participate in the upazila polls even as independents. Action will be taken against those who will violate the party's decision," IAB Media Coordinator Shahidul Islam told The Daily Star yesterday.
Wishing anonymity, a Jamaat leader said the party does not have representatives in parliament and different local government bodies.
Against such a backdrop, the party high-ups are not taking a rigid stance on its leaders' participation in the upazila elections.
According to district correspondents of The Daily Star, Abdur Rahman, amir of Shyamnagar upazila Jamaat in Satkhira, will run for chairman.
Mahbubul Alam, nayeb-e-amir of Satkhita district Jamaat, is campaigning in Debhata upazila.
Hafizur Rahman, secretary of Satkhira district Jamaat, will run for Kaliganj upazila chairman.
Jamaat leaders from Paikgacha and Koira upazilas in Khulna, and different upazilas of Dinajpur and Gaibandha have also started campaigning.