Two-third boats of 14-party alliance fail to anchor assembly arena

The position of many MPs did not remain sustainable. Several of them hold prominent positions in the government party alliance. Bangladesh Awami League first fielded its own candidates in almost all seats, but later left it for these allies. Even after that they could not secure at least four seats in the 12th National Parliamentary Elections.

Six seats were divided by the 14 teams competing with the boat symbol. Furthermore, they participated with their own symbol in certain constituencies. Hasanul Haqu Inu, the president of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD), Fazle Hossain Badsha, the general secretary of the Workers Party, and Anwar Hossain Manju, the chairman of the Jatiya Party-JP, were defeated by independent candidates.

The other members of the 14-party alliance led by the Awami League demanded that the ruling party eliminate its independent candidates from the beginning. However, Awami League did not take into account the demands of the partners. Due to vote-sharing, the majority of these left-wing politicians were likely to lose the election.

At the end of the campaign, regional leaders and activists came forward as ‍‍`saviors‍‍` for their allies, but could not save them. And the rest who participated in the polls with their party symbols, (according to EC data) 66 candidates of JSD, 26 of Workers‍‍` Party and 13 of JP, none of them could be elected.

In the 11th National Parliamentary elections held in 2018, three partner parties of 14 parties got ten seats and won six seats. Which means, five years ago the scenario was exactly opposite. The parties then won about two-thirds of the seats.

JSD president became a member of parliament from Kushtia-2 constituency for the last three times with the boat symbol.

General Secretary of Kushtia Mirpur Upazila Awami League, Kamarul Arefin challenged him. Arefin left the chairmanship of the same upazila parishad and became an independent candidate. Former Information Minister Inu lost by a margin of 23,354 votes after a close fight.

Workers Party Secretary Fazle Hossain Badsha, has won three consecutive terms from 2008 until now. However, Shafiqur Rahman Badsha, his former neighbor, defeated him bagging Rajshahi-2 seat. Both lived in Hargram Bazar area of ​​Rajshahi. They also have the same surname. He was elected by defeating incumbent Awami League candidate Fazle Hossain Badsha by almost double the margin of votes.

Meanwhile, JP Chairman Anwar Hossain Manju has become a Member of Parliament six times from Pirojpur-2 constituency. Former Assistant Private Secretary Md. Mohiuddin Maharaj showed surprise by becoming an independent candidate. He is the joint general secretary of district Awami League and former district council chairman.

Meanwhile, the vice-president of one party defeated the vice-president of another party in Lakshmipur-4 seat. JSD central vice-president Mosharraf Hossain lost to district Awami League vice-president and independent candidate Mohammad Abdullah by a margin of about 8,500 votes.

Among the two winning candidates, Workers Party president Rashed Khan Menon won from Barisal-2 seat, while JSD leader AKM Rezaul Karim (Tansen) won from Bogra-4 seat with the boat symbol. Menon won by over 90,000 votes over his nearest rival while Tansen won by a margin of 2,000 votes.