Jamaat shatters Jatiya Party stronghold in Rangpur

Thursday's general election has not been a blessing for the Jatiya Party (JaPa), as Jamaat-e-Islami swept the party of former dictator Ershad out of its longtime stronghold in Rangpur.

The JaPa failed to win any parliamentary seats in the election and was unable to contest in many areas. Additionally, its top two leaders, GM Quader and Shameem Haider Patwary, performed poorly in the voting race.

Meanwhile, Jamaat and its allies won all the seats in Rangpur.

Jamaat won five of the six seats in the district, while the remaining seat went to its ally, the NCP.

Party chairman GM Quader came third in the Rangpur-3 (City Corporation and Sadar) seat, while Secretary General Patwary also finished third in the Gaibandha-1 seat.

In this seat, Jamaat-e-Islami's Maulana Md. Nurul Amin was elected with 120,128 votes. His nearest rival, BNP's Saiful Islam, received 117,703 votes, while JaPa's Nur Alam Mia managed only 1,287 votes.

According to past Jatiya Party statistics, from 1991 to 2008, they won 92 percent of the seats in the Rangpur region in national elections.

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