January 7 Polls: Aspirants from minorities rise in number

The number of aspirants from minority communities for the upcoming national election is higher compared to the previous polls.

Apart from the ruling Awami League and opposition Jatiya Party, three new political parties and three Islamist parties have nominated members of religious and ethnic minorities to run for the polls.

According to the Election Commission data, 102 aspirants from minority communities have submitted their nomination papers for the January 7 parliamentary polls.

Of them, 77 are on party tickets, and 25 are independent candidates.

In the 2018 polls, 74 minority candidates contested, of whom only two were independent.

According to the EC, of the 29 registered political parties taking part in the upcoming polls, eight did not nominate any members of minority communities.

Data shows that AL has nominated 20 people from minority communities.

The three Islamist parties who gave tickets to people from minority groups are: Zaker Party (five nominations), Bangladesh Tarikat Federation (two nominations) and Bangladesh Supreme Party (one nomination).

Shamim Haider, secretary general of Zaker Party, said they usually give party tickets to members of the minority communities as many are a part of their front organisations.

The new political parties, who gave their party tickets to people from minority groups, are: Trinamool BNP (nine nominations), Bangladesh Nationalist Movement (two nominations) and Bangladesh Supreme Party (one nomination).

Meanwhile, the main opposition in parliament, Jatiya Party, gave nominations to five people from minority communities, while JP (Manju) nominated one person. 

Other parties who nominated people from minority communities are: Bangladesh Samyabadi Dal (one), Gonotantri Party (two), Bangladesh National Awami Party (one), Workers Party of Bangladesh (three), Bikolpodhara Bangladesh (one), Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (Inu) (two), National People's Party (six), Bangladesh Jatiya Party (Mukit) (three), Bangladesh Kalyan Party (one), Bangladesh Sangskritik Muktijote (one) and Bangladesh Congress (six).

The eight parties that did not give their ticket to anyone from the minority are: Bangladesh Khelafat Andolon, Bangladesh Muslim League, Gono Front, Islamic Front Bangladesh, Islami Oikyajote, Bangladesh Islamic Front, Bangladesh Muslim League (BML) and Bangladesh Nationalist Front.

Rana Dasgupta, general secretary of Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, said many people from ethnic and religious minorities are aspiring to become lawmakers through other parties as they do not have their own.

"This is also the outcome of discontent among the minorities, who are often neglected and belittled. They are using the new parties to contest the polls and express their discontent."

Currently, there are 18 AL lawmakers in parliament who are from ethnic and religious minorities.

After the 2014 polls, there were 18 minority MPs, of which 18 were from AL and two were independent.

After the 2008 polls, there were 14 minority MPs, and only eight in the election before that.