The BNP-backed candidates have again won more seats in the second round of upazila elections. In 115 posts of chairmen, the BNP-backed candidates backed by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the Jamaat-e-Islami secured 51, the ruling Awami League (AL) 44 and the Jamaat-e-Islami 8 when counting was completed in 112 seats. The gap between the BNP and the AL has narrowed by a few seats while the Jamaat has not done well in comparison to the first-round elections. In straightforward elections, the conclusions should be that the AL has gained some lost ground and the Jamaat's surge has been somewhat checked. Unfortunately, so far as elections in Bangladesh are concerned, nothing really is straightforward these days.
The AL holds back straightforward answers to simple questions regarding either national or local-level elections. Its government held national elections where less than 10 per cent voters voted and called its victory 'a sweeping one'. It literally kept the opposition locked up and on the run and yet called the polls free and fair and held without any hindrance. In fact, it went ahead and claimed that the national elections gave it a mandate to rule for another five years.
After losing the first round of upazila elections comprehensively with very strong showing by the Jamaat, the AL first tried to spin the results as proof that under party government, elections could be free and fair in which the opposition could also win. That spin was given to explain to the people that the national elections were also likewise free and fair and the BNP should blame itself for staying away from it. The spin was given that way also to dismiss demands for new national elections.
Nevertheless, the people interpreted the elections, both the national and the upazila ones, differently. They perceived the first round of upazila poll results as a proof of strong support for the BNP at the grassroots. They also perceived that contrary to the ruling party's claims, the Jamaat has also strengthened its support among the ordinary folks because they thought that the party has been victimised and persecuted by the law-enforcement agencies for upholding the cause of Islam. The ruling party quickly realised that its spins that the first round results proved the elections could be fair under party government failed to gain credibility.
The AL leaders, therefore, quickly changed their strategy. They claimed in public that in the second round, the party would come out ahead of the BNP/ Jamaat by any means. They were not bothered people would conclude from such claims that the ruling party, at the highest level, decided to make the outcome different from the first round. The ruling party was particularly upset with the defeat in Pirgacha upazila. Pirgacha falls in the constituency from where the Prime Minister won a parliamentary seat in the January 05 election that she relinquished so that Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury could get elected in the bye-election.
That the ruling party meant business to win the second round elections by any means was palpably evident from the very start of voting. From what people watched on TV cameras, it was evident that fairly widespread vote frauds took place. These were much widespread than in the first round that had led the BNP to claim that without fraud, it would have won 95 per cent of the upazila parishad seats. Opposition-backed candidates withdrew from the contest in four districts mid-way through the voting when the law-enforcement agencies and the Election Commission (EC) officials refused to take any action against the wrong-doers.
With these withdrawals in perspective, the straightforward analysis that the ruling party has done better in the second round than the first one does not hold good. In fact, if these palpable interferences were taken into the equation, the BNP/Jamaat-backed candidates would have done even better than in the first round. One win that rubbed salt into the AL's wound was the loss of the Mujibnagar seat that caused the same type of reaction in the ruling party as the loss of the Pirgacha seat in the first round.
Even the elections for vice-chairman (male) and vice chairperson (female), also held during the second round, did not give an encouraging picture. In 93 posts of vice chairman (male), Jamaat-backed candidates emerged on top taking 30 seats followed by the BNP and the AL with 28 each. In 85 posts of vice-chairperson (female), the BNP-backed candidates won 44, the AL 26 and the Jamaat nine.
Increasingly, the ruling party is showing concerns about people's feelings about the way elections are being held in the country. In the second round, it has thus made a dent into the confidence of some people that fair elections could be held under party government. It strengthened the demand of the BNP for elections under a caretaker government. The EC's palpably spineless conduct in the two rounds of upazila elections have also helped weaken the argument for elections under party government.
With three more rounds of upazila elections to go, people are likely to lose interest knowing that these elections would not be fair once again. They have the reason to believe that the ruling party would not allow neutral voting under any circumstances. On the other hand, the EC too is eager to please the ruling party and too weak to stand up to government pressure. Therefore, if the first two rounds established anything, it has made it clear that it is not only national elections that cannot be held under a party government freely and fairly but also local elections.
The results of upazila elections, how much flawed the two rounds were, have shown that the BNP/Jamaat have a big hold at the grassroots and are quite capable of launching movement for new elections sooner rather than later while the ruling Awami League is now in no mood to hold national elections before 2019.
The writer is a retired career Ambassador.                 serajul7@gmail.com
Two rounds of upazila polls
M. Serajul Islam | Published: March 02, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00
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