Who will fight for ‘decisive’ Sylhet seat in December election?

There is a saying in Bangladesh’s politics -- “The party, which wins Sylhet 1, forms the government as well”.

It’s been almost a belief among the politicians now as the parties, whose candidates won the seat, also won the parliamentary election.

So, there is no surprise that all the parties eye the constituency, consisting of Sylhet city and parts of Sadar Upazila, in the election slated for Dec 30.

The seat won by late speaker Humayun Rasheed Choudhury, late finance minister M Saifur Rahman and incumbent Finance Minister AMA Muhith is also known as the “VIP seat”.

The candidates for the seat could be predicted long before the voting in the previous elections, but both the Awami League-led Grand Alliance and the BNP’s coalitions are not giving any clue on their nominees for the seat this time.

Many wonder whether Sheikh Hasina herself will fight for the seat as the Awami League has given her two nomination papers – one for her ancestral Gopalganj 3 while the other is yet to be disclosed.

The social media is also flooded with speculations that the BNP is nominating Zubaida Rahman, the wife of its acting chief in exile Tarique Rahman, for the vital Sylhet seat.

At least six people have bought the Awami League’s nomination forms for the seat and the names of three of them are being discussed.

They are Bangladesh’s former permanent representative to the UN AK Abdul Momen, the Awami League’s Organising Secretary Misbah Uddin Siraj and former election commissioner Muhammad Sohul Hussain.

Former mayor Badar Uddin Ahmed Kamran is also vying for the ruling party’s ticket, though his defeat to the BNP’s Ariful Haque Chowdhury in the recently held election to the Sylhet City Corporation appears to be a negative point in his race.

In the candidacy for the BNP’s paddy sheaf logo, the name of Jatiya Oikya Prokriya’s Sultan Muhammed Mansur Ahmed came up along with former secretary Enam Ahmed Chaudhury and former MP Khandaker Abdul Malik’s son Khandaker Abdul Muktadir’s names.

WHO’S WHO

Finance Minister Muhith, who is representing the Sylhet seat in parliament for a decade as well, has announced a plan to retire and hope the Awami League will nominate his younger brother Momen.

But buying a nomination form as “a dummy candidate” leaves the option open for him to run for the seat again.

It will be the first time the party’s Organising Secretary Siraj will contest in the parliamentary election if his party wants him.

He is a strong candidate for the party’s ticket for the influence he has as its organising secretary.

Former election commissioner Sohul does not have much connection with the local leaders and activists of the Awami League, but he is being seen as a heavyweight for the party’s ticket.

Ex-secretary Enam came from an influential family in Sylhet with a lot of leverage in local politics.

His brother Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury was an adviser to the military-controlled caretaker government and their late brother Faruq Ahmed Choudhury was a former foreign secretary.

The chief adviser of that caretaker government, Fakhruddin Ahmed, is their brother-in-law.

Muktadir, a member of BNP chief Khaleda Zia’s advisory council, is active in local politics. His father Malik won the seat in 1991 when Khaleda became the prime minister.

But as the BNP supporters in Sylhet are busy calculating the chances for the two of winning the party’s ticket, former Awami League leader Mansur cannot be dropped from the list of the possible nominees for the paddy sheaf.

Mansur, whose actual constituency is Moulvibazar 2, recently joined the Kamal Hossain-led Jatiya Oikya Front, which is contesting the election with the BNP’s logo after formation of the alliance ahead of the polls.

Abdul Hekim Chowdhury won the Sylhet 1 constituency in the first election after the Liberation War. Besides Malik, Humayun Rasheed, Saifur Rahman and Muhith, Hekim’s other successor is Syed Rafiqul Haque.

POSITIONS

In local journalist Monjur Ahmed’s words, former secretary Enam’s political activities are centred in Dhaka and so he has less connection with the voters and BNP supporters.

He is also actually from Sylhet 6 constituency, which makes his nomination claim weaker.

“The BNP appears to be organisationally in disarray here. Its metropolitan unit chief is sick, general secretary is abroad, district unit president is fugitive from the law. Other leaders and activists are also struggling with cases and factional disputes,” Monjur said.

“It will be difficult for Enam Ahmed to reorganise the supporters in this situation,” he added.

Muktadir was active in local politics but had not held any major post in the party before suddenly becoming Khaleda’s adviser.

It will be a difficult job for Muktadir too if his rivals nominate a heavyweight candidate, according to Monjur.

The Awami League is also suffering from factional disputes in Sylhet, which weighed on the mayoral race, the journalist said.

The distance between the families of Muhith and Kamran is also getting longer due to the vote.

“Meanwhile, supporters of Siraj, who is dreaming to be an MP for the first time, are considering both Muhith and Kamran rivals. It will be difficult for the Awami League to have its candidate win the election if the chasm remains,” Monjur said.  

So the question of Hasina contesting for the decisive seat herself comes to the fore.

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed, who is a member of the ruling party’s Parliamentary Board that nominates the candidates, however, told bdnews24.com that the party chief was not contesting for the constituency.