BNP’s experience, Jamaat’s challenge

Rajshahi Correspondent :

Rajshahi-2 (Sadar) is one of the most important constituencies in Rajshahi administratively and politically. The constituency, which consists of the entire Rajshahi City Corporation area, is always at the center of discussion.

Although former mayor Mizanur Rahman Minu’s clean image and long political experience in local politics give him an additional advantage, there is a strong opposition from the party. On the other hand, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami candidate and Nayeb-e-Amir of the metropolis, Dr. Muhammad Jahangir, has entered the field as a strong opponent. Considering the popularity in the voting field, the strong position of the organization and recent public opinion, there is a hint of a tough fight between the two candidates in this election.

Meanwhile, Mobashware Ali, convener of the Rajshahi Metropolitan Committee, has received the nomination of the National Citizens Committee (NCP) in the Rajshahi-2 constituency. After receiving the party nomination, he conducted limited election mass mobilization. Besides, although the names of the candidates of Khilafat Majlis, BSD, Gana Sanghati Andolan and Gana Adhikar Parishad have come to the fore, they have not campaigned.
Rajshahi-2 (Sadar) is the most important constituency in Rajshahi administratively and politically among the parliamentary constituencies. Due to the active presence of government and private offices, educational institutions, business and commerce and civil society, the impact of this constituency in national politics is also significant.
According to the latest updated data of the Election Commission, the participation of urban educated and middle-class voters in the constituency is relatively high. Young voters, employees, businessmen and women voters play an important role in determining the result here.
In addition, this time, civic issues including the July Revolution, party conflicts and the Awami League’s vote bank will play an important role. Due to which, the thirteenth election and the previous elections and subsequent significant events may change the different political trends and issue-based attitudes of the voters.
The total number of voters in Rajshahi-2 constituency is 3 lakh 52 thousand 783, of which 1 lakh 71 thousand 418 are male voters and 1 lakh 81 thousand 359 are female voters. There are 8 third gender (hijra) voters. And there are 115 polling stations. The boundaries of the constituency were redrawn before the 1986 elections. And the data analysis shows that BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami had a strong influence on this constituency from the very beginning in the 1990s.
Although Awami League played an active role here in the later stage, they were left out of the actual calculation in the controversial election. Meanwhile, in the fifth national parliament election of 1991, BNP’s Kabir Hossain got 43.40 percent of the votes and Jamaat-e-Islami’s candidate Ataur Rahman got 21.50 percent of the votes. In the following year, 2001, Mizanur Rahman Minu got 176,405 votes. At that time, Jamaat supported Minu and ran an overall election campaign.