Overtaking JaPa, independents emerge in second position

Highlights:

• Independents boost turnout, but defeat heavyweights from JaPa and AL
• As of 1am Monday, independent candidates claimed 58 seats, JaPa 11 seats
• JaPa may lose opposition party's position to independents in next parliament
• JaPa chairman GM Quader's wife Sharifa Quader, his nephew Hossain Mokbul Shahriar lost seats to independents

Independent candidates surprised Jatiyo Party in early polls tally, claiming 58 seats as of 1am Monday while JaPa managed to win 11 seats.

JaPa may even have to lose the opposition party's position to these independent candidates in the next parliament.

Some independents have emerged victorious against heavyweights, including ministers.

Although Awami League's strategy to field independent candidates played a role in somewhat increasing the voter turnout in the 12th general elections amid the BNP's boycott, Jatiyo Party (JaPa) and even the ruling Awami League-backed candidates had to pay a hefty price for that.

In a pre-election agreement, the Awami League conceded 26 seats to its ally Jatiyo Party, which currently holds 27 seats in parliament.

Notably, several prominent JaPa candidates, including the party's chairman GM Quader's wife Sharifa Quader and his nephew Hossain Mokbul Shahriar, along with Shamim Haider Patwary, faced defeat in these constituencies to independent candidates such as Ahmed Khosru Chowdhury, Asaduzzaman and Abdullah Nigar, respectively.

Among the other heavyweight candidates, independent candidate Kamarul Arefin won the Kushtia-2 constituency, defeating Awami League-backed and former Information Minister Hasanul Haque Inu.

In the Habiganj-4 constituency, Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Md Mahbub Ali was defeated by independent candidate Barrister Saidul Haque Sumon and in the Manikganj-2 constituency, independent candidate Dewan Zahid Ahmed Tulu won defeating Awami League candidate Momtaz Begum, popular singer and a three-time member of parliament.

Comilla and Tangail witnessed strong performances by independent candidates, who clinched seven seats in these districts, defeating nominees from the Awami League.

Cumilla witnessed four independent victories, with Principal Abdul Majid, Jahangir Alam Sarkar, Abul Kalam Azad, and MA Jaher emerging victorious in the Cumilla-2, Cumilla-3, Cumilla-4, and Cumilla-5 seats, respectively.

In Tangail, independent candidates also emerged victorious in several key seats. Former Awami League minister Abdul Latif Siddiqui, expelled from the party before the elections, unseated Awami League nominee Mazharul Anwar Thandu in Tangail-4. Meanwhile, independent candidates Amanur Rahman Khan Rana and Sanwar Hossain secured wins in Tangail-3 and Tangail-5, respectively.

Besides, the independent winners are Radiant Pharma Chairman Md Nasser Shahriar Zahedi from the Jhenaidah-2 seat, Iftekhar Uddin Talukder Pintu from the Netrokona-3 seat, Hameem Group MD AK Azad from the Faridpur-3 seat, Advocate Omar Faruk Suman from the Naogaon-6 seat and Zakaria Zaka from Dinajpur-1.

Independent candidates also won in several other constituencies. Principal Abdur Rashid won in Jamalpur-4, Sirajul Islam Molla won in Narsingdi-3, Saddam Hussain Pavel won in Nilphamari-3, Siddikul Alam won in Nilphamari-4, Abdullah Al Mamun won in Lakshipur-4, Nazrul Islam won in Mymensingh-5, and Tahmina Begum won in Madaripur-3.

Like the last two times, Mujibur Rahman (Nixon) Chowdhury won in Faridpur-4, Khasru Chowdhury in Dhaka-18, SM Sultan Mahmud in Naogaon-4, Abul Kalam in Natore-1, Advocate Sohrab Uddin in Kishoreganj-2 and Hamidul Haque Khandkar in Kurigram-2.

After the candidature of Awami League candidate Mostafizur Rahman in the Chattagram-16 constituency was cancelled during voting, independent candidate Mojibur Rahman won from that constituency. Besides, independent candidates Abdul Motaleb won in Chattogram-15 and Zakir Hossain Sarkar in Rangpur-5.

Moreover, early indications from Dhaka-19 point towards a competitive battle, with Dr Enamur Rahman of the Awami League facing strong competition from independent candidates.

Strategy for independents by AL pays off in voter turnout

In the absence of various political parties including the BNP, the strategy of the Awami League to field its leaders as independent candidates in yesterday's parliamentary elections to increase voter turnout has paid off.

According to the Election Commission, while only 26.37% of the votes were cast across the country by 3pm, an analysis of voting data from 26 seats where AL candidates were running alongside strong independent candidates from the same party showed that an average of over 34% of the votes were cast in those seats by 2pm.

According to the Election Commission's Smart Election Management app, in several seats, nearly 50% of the votes were cast by 2pm. At least one constituency recorded a 53% voting rate.

After the voting was over, Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal presented the preliminary voting tally to journalists. He initially mentioned that the voting rate was 28%. Later, Election Commission Secretary Mohammad Jahangir Alam corrected the CEC. Later, the CEC said 40% of the votes had been cast.

According to the EC data, 80.2% of the votes were cast in the 2018 national parliamentary elections, 40% in 2014, and 87% in 2008.