11 party chiefs struggle to bag 45k votes collectively; lose deposits

The chiefs or chairpersons of a total of 11 political parties, who contested in the 12th national polls, have lost their security deposits, as they failed to secure 12.5% of the total votes polled in their respective constituencies. Together, the 11 candidates bagged a meagre 44,905 votes.

Out of the 28 parties that participated in the elections on Sunday, all candidates from 23 parties lost the polls from various constituencies. Of these 23 parties, the chiefs of 9 parties did not run in the polls, and the chiefs of the remaining 14 parties lost the polls, with 11 of them losing their security deposits.

Four parties – Trinamool BNP, Bangladesh Nationalist Movement (BNM), Bangladesh Congress Party and Bangladesh Supreme Party (BSP) – contested in the national polls for the first time. Any candidate of these 4 parties could not emerge victorious.

Of the total 1,533 candidates fielded by the 28 parties, 639 candidates were from 5 parties that secured win in the polls. The parties are – Awami League, Jatiyo Party, Bangladesh Workers Party, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal and Kalyan Party.

The remaining 894 candidates from the remaining 23 parties lost the polls from various seats, with many of them losing their security deposits.

The party chief who lost security deposits

Bangladesh Muslim League Chairman Sk Zulfiqar Bulbul Chowdhury, who contested the polls from Chattogram-1, bagged only 46 votes, the lowest among the seven candidates in the seat. According to the Election Commission, 1,45,062 votes were cast in Chattogram-1, which is 39.58% of the total votes in the constituency. Awami League candidate Mahbub Ur Rahman won the seat with 89,064 votes.

Bangladesh Nationalist Front Chairman SM Abul Kalam Azad lost the polls with 299 votes in Dhaka-17.   A total of 53,957 votes were polled in the seat, which is 16.66% of the total votes there.  Awami League candidate Mohammad Ali Arafat won the seat with 48,059 votes.

Islami Oikya Jote Chairman Abul Hasnat lost the polls with 810 votes in Brahmanbaria-2. Independent candidate Moinuddin Moin emerged victorious in the seat.

Trinamool BNP Chairman Shamser Mubin Chowdhury contested the polls from Sylhet-6, and bagged 10,936 votes. Awami League candidate Nurul Islam Nahid won the seat with 57,778 votes. The turnout in the constituency was 24.69%.

Trinamool BNP Secretary General Taimur Alam Khandakar contested the polls from Narayanganj-1, and lost with 3,190 votes. Awami League candidate Golam Dastgir Gazi got 1,56,483 votes. The total votes polled in the constituency are 2,12,624.

Besides, all the 79 candidates fielded by the Bangladesh Supreme Party, who contested the polls with "Ektara" symbol, lost the race.

Supreme Party Chairman Shahzada Syed Saifuddin Ahmad lost the polls from Chattogram-2 with 3,138 votes. Bangladesh Tarikat Federation Chairman Syed Najibur Bashar Maizbhandari contested the polls from the same seat with the "garland" symbol, and got only 230 votes. Najibur withdrew from the election two days before the voting day and extended his support to the "boat" candidate.

Awami League candidate Khadijatul Anwar won Chattogram-2 with 1,00,685 votes. A total of 1,49,465 votes were cast in the constituency, which is 32.74% of the total votes in the constituency.

Bangladesh Islami Front Chairman MA Matin lost the polls from Chattogram-12 with 8,298 votes.   Awami League candidate Motaherul Islam Chowdhury won the seat with 1,20,313 votes. A total of 1,68,788 votes were cast in Chattogram-12, which is 51.24% of the total votes in the seat.

Islamic Front Bangladesh Chairman Syed Bahadur Shah Mojaddedi contested the polls with the chair symbol from Chandpur-5, and lost it with 7,144 votes.  Awami League candidate Maj (retd) Rafiqul Islam won the seat with 83,227 votes. A total of 1,56,491 votes were cast in the seat, which is 32.22% of the total votes in the seat.

Bangladesh Khilafat Andolon Chairman Ataullah Hafezzi lost the election from Munsiganj-1 with 2,635 votes. Awami League candidate Mohiuddin Ahmed won the seat with 95,860 votes. A total of 1,92,567 votes, or 37.83% of the total votes, were cast in the seat.

Bangladesh Congress Chairman advocate Kazi Rejaul Hossen lost the polls from Magura-1 with 5,973 votes. Awami League nominated Shakib Al Hasan won the seat with 1,85,388 votes.

Gonoforum President Mofizul Islam Khan Kamal contested the polls from Manikganj-3, and lost it with 5,391 votes. Awami League nominee Zahid Maleque won the seat with 1,26,720 votes. A total of 1,41,652 votes were cast in the constituency, which is 39.52% of total voters.

3 party chiefs eligible for recovering security deposits

Of the 28 parties that took part in the elections, party chiefs of only three parties are eligible to recover their security deposits from the Election Commission having managed the required share of votes.

The three party chiefs are Jatiya Party (JP) Chairman Anwar Hossain Manju, Krishak Sramik Janata League President Abdul Kader Siddique and Bangladesh Nationalist Movement Chairman Shah Mohammad Abu Zafar from Pirojpur-2, Tangail-8 and Faridpur-1 constituencies respectively.

Though the three leaders managed to fulfil the required criteria for recovering money, they lost to the candidates linked with the ruling party.

JP's Manju lost Pirojpur-2 to an independent candidate and a ruling party member Mahiuddin Maharaj. With 70,681 votes, he at least managed to secure the 12.5% share in total votes to reclaim the sum he deposited with the Election Commission. The vote casting rate in the parliamentary seat was slightly over 45%.

This marks the first time Manju has lost a national election, having previously contested seven times.

Mohiuddin Maharaj, the district Awami League joint general secretary and former Pirojpur Zilla Parishad chairman, once worked for Manju as his personal assistant.

Krishak Sramik Janata League President Bangabir Abdul Kader Siddique lost to Awami League candidate Anupam Shahjahan Joy. About 42% of the total votes were cast in the seat.

Bangladesh Nationalist Movement's Abu Zafar lost to Awami League candidate Mohammad Arifur Rahman in Faridpur-1. Party Secretary General Mohammad Shahjahan also lost the election from the Chandpur-4 seat.