Rangpur city polls: Why AL mayoral candidate lost security deposit

Awami League-nominated mayoral candidate for Rangpur City Corporation Hosne Ara Lutfa Dalia and the party's rebel candidate Latifur Rahman lost their security deposits as both of them failed to secure a minimum number of votes – required for saving the deposit – in the polls held last Tuesday.

Hosne Ara got only 22,306 votes and Latifur Rahman 33,883 votes out of the total 2.8 lakh votes cast in the third election to the Rangpur City Corporation elections. Each mayoral candidate was required to have at least 35,122 votes or one-eighth of the total cast to save their deposited Tk20,000 with the Election Commission, according to the city corporation election rules.

The provision of depositing security money and its confiscation in elections has been in practice in the country since 1918. The key objective of the system is to discourage people without enough popularity from contesting in elections.

In Tuesday's election, Mostafizur Rahman Mostafa of the Jatiya Party was re-elected for the second term with about 1.47 lakh votes, while the Awami League's nominated Hosne Ara was in fourth position.  In the first instance of the elections that was held in 2012, Awami League candidate Sharfuddin Ahmed Jhantu became mayor, defeating Mostafa by over 28,000 votes. The ruling party lost popularity in the city afterwards.

Factors behind the AL defeat 

Awami League leaders believe that internal disputes in local units of the party, nomination of a comparatively weak candidate and less attention of the central Awami League ahead of national parliamentary elections were key reasons behind their defeat in the latest election.

The conflict between City Awami League President Shafiur Rahman Shafi and Secretary General Kushar Kanti had an adverse impact on the votes for the Awami League candidate, while a large segment of votes also went to rebel candidate Latifur Rahman Milan, a recently expelled vice-president of Rangpur Kotwali Thana Awami League.

These factors ultimately eased the battle for the Jatiya-party candidate Mostafizar Rahman to be father of the city two times in a row.

The historically strong position of the Jatiya Party in the Rangpur region and personal image also helped the heavy-weight candidate to attain success.

Is it a strategic compromise?

"A strong and well-known candidate would not have to undergo the difficult test in the election but the Awami League failed to nominate the right one," an Awami League leader who was denied nomination for the election told The Business Standard, seeking anonymity.

"As a consequence, supporters got confused and turned away," he added.

Civil rights body Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik (Shujan) Secretary for Rangpur Division Aftab Hossain said Rangpur is widely known as the fort of Hussain Mohammad Ershad's Jatiya party.

"The Awami League does not have a strong position here. Moreover, it has nominated a relatively weak candidate. Hosne Ara is a member of the Rangpur District Awami League. She was once made an MP from the reserved women seats. Apart from these, she had neither any mentionable identity nor visible political activities," he told TBS.

Shujan Central Committee Secretary Badiul Alam Majumdar said the Awami League has taken a very strategic position in the Rangpur city elections to ease acceptance of the next national elections.

"The government wants to grow confidence among people over the elections under it. Thus, it nominated such a [weak] candidate. It did not even show its force in the Rangpur election, unlike other previous elections where centre-occupying and vote-rigging were common."

"It is clear that the Awami League wants to show the people that the next election will be free and fair," he told TBS.

What do local leaders say?

Rangpur City Awami League President Shafiar Rahman Shafi said, "We have lost in this election. We are trying to find out the reasons behind this. I am not denying that there were some internal problems in the party."

When asked why the Awami League nominated a relatively weak candidate, he told TBS that It is a concern of the central Awami League.

Jatiya Party Rangpur City General Secretary SM Yasir said, "Mostafizar Rahman successfully served the city as mayor for the last five years after being elected with huge votes. His popularity has been on the rise because he developed the city a lot."

"At the same time, the people of Rangpur infinitely love the Jatiya Party, the leader of the people of Rangpur Pallibandhu Hussain Mohammad Ershad. Hence, the nominee of the Jatiya Party won a landslide victory," he told TBS.