Bangladesh News Desk: A number of politicians have contested every general election in the last five decades. Some of the politicians who took part in the 1970 polls are in the race this time as well. The veteran politicians have shown party loyalty and also switched parties.
Family loyalty to the party has also been noticeable. There have been cases where someone has been involved with a party for a long time, and then their family members contested elections with the ticket of that party.
Five politicians who took part in the 1970 provincial council or national council elections are contesting the 12th parliamentary polls. They are Amir Hossain Amu, Rajiuddin Ahmed Raju, Abdul Latif Siddiqui, Tofail Ahmed, and Professor Abu Sayeed. Amu, Raju, and Latif participated in the 1970 provincial council polls, and the two others in the national council elections.
The five leaders participated in the first general election in 1973. Rashed Khan Menon and Shajahan Khan also did so and are in the race this time, too.
In the 1970 polls, Amu contested from Bakerganj-8, Raju Dhaka-24, Latif Tangail-4, and Tofail Bakerganj-1. After that, in the previous nine elections, except for the ones in 1988 and 1996, they as well as Sayeed took part as Awami League candidates.
Apart from Latif, the four others are contesting with the boat symbol this time. Latif is running as an independent candidate. He lost his ministership for making controversial remarks. He sought party nomination both this time and in the 11th general election but did not get it.
Prof Sayeed did not get the party nomination in the 2008 and 2014 elections because of aligning with the reformist group during 1/11. He sought party nomination in the 2018 elections but did not get that. He then joined the Gano Forum and contested with the paddy sheaf symbol. This time, he is running as an independent candidate.
Menon and Abdullah Al Noman ran in the 1973 elections as NAP (Bhashani) candidates. Menon is now the Workers’ Party president. As a partner of the Awami League grand alliance, he is running with the boat symbol. Noman is not contesting.
Former shipping minister Shajahan Khan was a JSD candidate in 1973. He contested both from JSD and as an independent candidate multiple times later. He has been an Awami League candidate since 1996.
Continuing family tradition
Zillur Rahman ran with the Awami League ticket in every election from 1970 to 2008. He earned acclamation for leading the party through tough times and eventually became the country’s president. Later, his son Nazmul Hassan Papon became the MP in the same constituency. Papon will contest the 12th national polls.
Abdul Hamid, another former president, was elected the youngest member of the National Council in the 1970 elections. He has been involved in Awami League politics for more than five decades. He contested national elections every time till 2008 and was elected the president for the first time in March 2013. He completed a second term and retired. His son Rejwan Ahammad Taufiq became an MP in 2014 and is contesting this time as well.
Former BNP secretary general KM Obaidur Rahman won the 1970 elections as an Awami League candidate. He also won in the 1973 and 1979 polls with the boat symbol. He later joined the BNP and became the party’s general secretary.
He left the BNP during Ershad’s regime and formed Janata Dal. In the 1991 elections, he ran as a Janata Dal candidate and lost. He returned to the BNP in 1996 and became an MP that year. He also won as a BNP candidate in the next election. His daughter Shyama Obaid contested the 11th national election from his constituency. Shyama is not running this time.
Since 1970, Awami League leader Akhtaruzzaman Chowdhury Babu in Chattogram had contested as a party candidate till his death. His son Saifuzzaman Chowdhury has been contesting in his constituency since 2014.
Awami League’s Ilias Ahmed Chowdhury from Madaripur had been a party candidate between 1970 and 1991. After his death, his son Noor-E-Alam Chowdhury Liton has been contesting since 1996. His other son Nixon Chowdhury is also in the race.
Suranjit Sengupta contested from NAP (Wali) in 1970 and NAP (Muzaffar) in 1973. In 1991, he was a Gano Forum candidate. Since 1996, he had contested from the Awami League. His wife Jaya Sengupta contested after his demise. She did not get the nomination this time.
Altaf Hossain Golandaz of Mymensingh had contested as an Awami League candidate from 1973 to 2001. Since then, his son Fahmi Gulandaz Babel has contested with the boat symbol.
Senior Awami League leader Engineer Mosharraf Hossain had taken part in elections between 1970 and 2018. This time, he decided not to run. The party has nominated his son Mahbubur Rahman in the Chattogram-1 constituency.
Awami League’s late general secretary Abdul Jalil had contested in Naogaon for a long time. His son Nizam Uddin Jalil is the candidate in his seat this time.
The Chattogram-9 constituency had long been known as the bastion of former Chattogram mayor ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury. His son Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury is contesting there again this time.
Former president AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury’s son Mahi B Chowdhury is contesting from the Munshiganj-1 constituency. Mahi, who was once a BNP leader and is currently the leader of Bikalpa Dhara, took part in the last election with the boat symbol. This time, he is contesting from his party.
After the death of M Mansur Ali’s son Mohammed Nasim, the latter’s son Tanvir Shakil Joy has contested elections with the Awami League ticket. Simeen Hussain Rimi, daughter of Tajuddin Ahmad, is running this time again with the boat symbol. Nahim Razzaq, son of late Awami League leader Abdur Razzak, is contesting from Shariatpur. He was elected an MP in 2014.
Party switching
Breakaway groups emerged during the Ziaur Rahman and Ershad eras, and many politicians then changed sides. This continued for various reasons, including pressure and the desire for power. This trend still exists. For example, BNP leader Shahjahan Omar walked out of prison last week and entered the fray as an Awami League candidate.
The three main symbols in national elections are boat, paddy sheaf, and plough, and those belong to the Awami League, the BNP, and the Jatiya Party, respectively. A handful of politicians contested elections with all three symbols, and Shah Moazzem Hossain is the most prominent one.
Moazzem, once an influential Chhatra League leader, had contested general elections since 1970. He was the first chief whip. After Bangabandhu’s assassination, he joined Mushtaq’s Democratic League. He joined the Jatiya Party after Ershad assumed power and gradually became the party’s secretary general. In 2006, he joined the BNP and lost the 2008 polls. He contested the 11th general election with the BNP ticket.
Former parliamentary speaker Shamsul Huda Chaudhury became a BNP MP in 1979. In 1986 and 1988, he was an MP of the Jatiya Party. Then he ran as an Awami League candidate in 1996 but failed.
Shahjahan Siraj, known as one of Bangabandhu’s four caliphs, first participated in the 1973 elections as a JSD candidate. He later led a JSD faction and also contested the 1979, 1986, 1988, and 1991 elections with the JSD ticket. But in 1996 and 2001, he was a BNP candidate.
BNP standing committee member Barrister Moudud Ahmed was among the key Jatiya Party founders. He became the prime minister and deputy president during Ershad’s term. He stayed in the Jatiya Party till 1996 and then returned to the BNP. He contested elections with both plough and paddy sheaf symbols.
Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury became an MP for the first time in 1979. During Ershad’s regime, he joined the Jatiya Party and became a minister. He participated in the 1986 elections. In 1987, he left the Jatiya Party and formed the National Democratic Party. He contested from the party in 1991 but did so as a BNP candidate in the next general election. He was a BNP MP in 2001 and 2008.
The same was the case with his brother Giasuddin Quader Chowdhury. He was with his brother in all the parties.
Former BNP leader Colonel (retd) Oli Ahmad had been a BNP MP for a long time and also became a minister. He left the BNP in 2006 and formed LDP. He also joined the Awami League-led grand alliance that year but left next year. In 2012, he joined the 20-party alliance led by the BNP. He contested the 2018 elections as an Oikyafront candidate.
Fazle Rabbi Miah became an Awami League MP in 2001 after contesting national elections for a long time as a Jatiya Party candidate. He was also the deputy speaker of the parliament.
Dabirul Islam, who contested from Thakurgaon in 1986 and 1991 as a CPB candidate, later joined the Awami League. From 1996 to 2018, he had been an Awami League candidate. This time, his son Mazharul Islam has got the party nomination.
Mozahar Hossain contested from Panchagarh in 1991 as a CPB candidate. In the next election, he was a BNP candidate.
Zakia Noor has secured the Awami League nomination for the constituency of the late party leader Syed Ashraful Islam, also her brother. Her another brother Syed Shafayetul Islam is also an independent candidate in the same seat.
