Election fever has started in Jhenaidah-3 constituency, with bordering Moheshpur and Kotchandpur upapzilas, with more than a single candidate showing keen interest in participating in the twelfth national polls scheduled for January next year.
A number of heavyweight aspirants including high-profile Army personnel have been conducting campaigns in constitutional areas identifying themselves as ruling Awami League (AL) candidates.
Name of more than a single candidate was also heard from the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) from the seat, with the party’s upazila unit president saying they would not participate in the polls under the present government until and unless there was scope to hold polls under an impartial caretaker government.
The seat is widely known as the vote-bank for BNP and Jamaat where Shahidul Islam alias Shahidul Master was elected for three consecutive terms from the seat.
Incumbent lawmaker Shafiqul Azam Khan Chanchal Advocate and Juba League (JL) presidium member Nobi Newaz Principal have separate groups here and they have been conducting campaigns in their favour individually.
Several leaders and activists of ruling AL and front organizations have been accompanying them both. They have been seeking vote support from the grass root voters moving here and there.
A new factor was there when a retired major general, also son of veteran AL leader, a close associate of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and ex Member of National Assembly (MNA) and member of parliament (MP) Mainuddin Miaji’s son Salah Uddin Miaji has been appearing before the voters with a new proposal in very recent times.
Salah Uddin Miaji is not seeking vote for himself, rather asking the people to work for the boat which Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been leading for the “Smart Bangladesh” to fulfill her dreams ignoring all odds which her father had dreamed until his last days. The appeal was appreciated among the general people when Miaji was campaigning for the present government's success. The bordering seat went in the grip of ruling AL for the last three terms of national polls.
Name of ex AL president, also founder chairman of Shahjalal Islami Bank Limited Sazzatuj Jumma, AL local unit president, a renowned journalist Sazzadul Islam and Kotchandpur upazila parishad chairman, also AL president Sharifunnessa Miki from the AL are named. from Moheshpur upazila. BNP central committee assistant information affairs secretary Amiruzzaman Khan Shimul, BNP Moheshpur upazila unit president Mehedi Hasan Roni and BNP local unit committee ex general secretary also Krishak Dal central committee assistant general secretary Mominur Rahman Engineer were named from the BNP.
Jamaat central majlish shura member assistant Matiur Rahman and Jatiya Party (JP, Ershad) were also named.
According to Jhenaidah district election office sources, Jhenaidah 3 seat comprising two upazilas has 17 unions. Kotchandpur upazila has a municipality and five union parishads, while Moheshpur has 13 unions including a municipality where the number of voters was 360,920 including 181,746 male. Mojammeel Haque of Jamaat E Islami was elected lawmaker from the seat in 1986, Shahidul Islam master of BNP in three consecutive terms in 1991, 96 and 2001, Shafiqul Azam Khan Chanchal Advocate of AL in 2008, Nobi Newaz of AL in 2014 and Shafiqul Azam Khan Chanchal Advocate once again in 2018.
Statistics said, five aspirants had participated in the eleventh national polls from the seat. They were Shafiqul Azam Khan Chanchal Advocate from AL, Matiur Rahman from Jamaat with paddy sheaf, Sarwar Hossain from Islami Andolon, Qamruzzaman Swadhin from JP and Ismail Hossain BNF.
Locals of Kotchandpur upazila said although the seat was formed with bordering Moheshpur and Kotchandpur upazilas, the aspirants from Moheshpur were elected one after another, where no candidate was elected from their upazila till today. It has been frustrating the people of Kotchandpur. As a result the people of the disadvantaged Kotchandpur upazila were deprived of any visible development activities after independence, they said.
Incumbent lawmaker Shafiqul Azam Khan Chanchal Advocate said he had ensured huge development work in his seat, while the another AL leader Nobi Newaz Principal could not see any visible development work in his constituency when the government of Sheikh Hasina was leading the country ensuring huge development work in her tenures.
He will establish an agriculture university beside the largest seed producing farm Dattanagar considering the agriculture potentials for expansion and research of rice, aquaculture in surrounding thousands of hectares of government lands and beels and baors and rivers.
His heartiest desire was to establish a modern landport in bordering Moheshpur to strengthen ties with neighboring India and expand trade between the two countries. Setting up a 150 megawatt solar power plant was one of his desires, JL presidium member Nobi Newaz Principal said.
Major General (retired) Salah Uddin Miaji, a military affairs secretary to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said he is the follower of the Prime Minister and desires to fulfill her dreams. If he was nominated for the boat he will appear before the people with the boat for his candidature to be a sailor of the symbol, Salah Uddin Miaji said.
Kotchandpur upazila parishad chairman, also Al president Sharifunnessa Miki when contacted said as Prime Minister and also AL chief Sheikh Hasina is a woman, I will consider her proposal for Jhenaidah 3 seat to empower the women community.
BNP Moheshpur upazila unit president Mehedi Hasan Roni when contacted said they would not go to polls under the present government until and unless there was scope to hold polls under impartial caretaker government. He only may participate in the polls when his party chief will advise him to participate in the national polls. He was confident enough to win from the seat if the situation permits, Roni added.
Krishak Dal central committee assistant general secretary Mominur Rahman Engineer said once the embargo to participate in the national polls was over, he might participate in the polls and win in the race to establish people’s rights.
