A lone ride on bicycle

For the Jatiya Party (Manju), a victory in national elections typically hinges on the success of its star performer Chairman Anwar Hossain Manju in Pirojpur-2, his home constituency covering the Bhandaria, Kawkhali, and Zianagar upazilas.

Since its formation in 2001, the party has won more than one seat only once, in 2014, when all major opposition parties, including the BNP, boycotted the national election.

In a situation reminiscent of the past polls, the party aims to surpass its prior records in the upcoming 12th parliamentary election. It has fielded 20 candidates with the aim of securing at least 3–4 seats.

Manju keeps his party afloat

Having been elected a member of parliament seven times since 1986, the veteran politician has served in various key ministerial roles, including energy, communication, environment, and water resources.

A son of Tofazzal Hossain Manik Mia, the founder of the Daily Ittefaq, Manju also served the vernacular daily for over three decades.

Also, he has an amazing track record with zero defeats in national polls.

Involved with Hussain Mohammad Ershad-led Jatiya Party since the early '80s, Manju broke away in 2001 when Ershad decided to join the BNP-led four-party alliance.

Ershad quit the alliance before the polls and a Jatiya Party faction led by Naziur Rahman stayed within the four-party.

In the 2001 election, Manju's  JP fielded 140 candidates with the electoral symbol "bicycle." Except for Manju, all of them were defeated in the election and subsequently lost their security deposits.

Party symbol of Jatiya Party (Manju)

In the 2008 national election, Manju did not contest. Following the crushing defeat in the previous polls, the party had fielded only seven candidates. All of them were defeated and lost their security deposits. They garnered a meagre 7,818 votes. 

In 2014, amid a mass boycott by opposition parties, the JP (Manju) fielded 28 candidates for the 10th national polls. With the support of the Awami League, Manju himself won uncontested from Pirojpur-2, and current Co-Chairman Ruhul Amin secured victory in Kurigram-4. Most of the other candidates lost their security deposits.

In the 2018 election, the party again dwindled down the number of its nominees, fielding only 11 candidates who polled some 1.84 lakh votes. Only Manju won from his home constituency, garnering over 1.79 lakh votes. 

High aspirations for the 7 January election

Talking to The Business Standard about the upcoming election, senior party leaders said they will participate in the upcoming election as part of the Awami League-led grand alliance as they did before.

However, this time, the JP wants more seats than they were allotted in the previous elections.

The party wants 10 seats from the alliance, but the leaders expect they will get 3-5 seats finally.

In the 12th national polls, Manju is contesting from his own parliamentary seat Pirojpur-2 and General Secretary Sheikh Shahidul Islam is contesting from Dhaka-14. Both of them will contest against AL-nominated candidates, while in Manju's seat, there's an AL rebel candidate as well. 

"We have always been with the grand alliance; we will be with it this time too. Talks are going on regarding the distribution of seats. We will be sure about our chances of victory after 18 December," JP's Office Secretary M Salah Uddin told TBS. 

"However, we are expecting to win more seats than we did in the previous elections. Hopefully, we will get more seats from the alliance this time."