According to the Election Commission (EC), voting in Dhaka-17 byelection shall be held on July 17, 2023 – the time either senior official of the US Department of State, Victoria Nuland and her delegation would be already in Dhaka. Meaning, Washington and the US Embassy in Dhaka will be closely monitoring the entire voting process and outcome of this byelection, which may even determine American policymakers in taking necessary steps about the forthcoming general election in Bangladesh.
A number of anti-Awami League forces, including Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its newly-found ally Jatiya Party are demanding the next general election be held under a “neutral caretaker government” despite the fact that Bangladesh’s constitution does not permit such arrangement. Instead, as per constitutional provisions, any election should be held under the incumbent government and power should be transferred to the party that wins required majority of at least 151 seats. It may be mentioned here that, Bangladesh Parliament currently holds 300 seats for the elected members. Any party registered with the Election Commission is eligible for participating in the election. In this case, Jamaat-e-Islami shall not be able to participate in the forthcoming general election as its registration with the EC has been revoked for its involvement in war crimes and opposition Bangladesh’s war of independence.
Although Arafat Ali Rahman (Arafat A. Rahman) is contesting the by-election with Awami League’s electoral symbol, the most talked-about candidate during this by-election is Ashraful Alom alias Hero Alom, who has risen to massive popularity mostly through YouTube channels. In February this year, while Awami League-led Grand Alliance-backed candidate AKM Rezaul Karim Tansen won the Bogura-4 (Nandigram-Kahalu) by-election by bagging 20,405 votes, his closest candidate Ashraful Hossen Alom alias Hero Alom got 19,571 votes. This result has shocked majority of the people in the country, as Alom being an independent candidate succeeded in bagging much larger number of votes than political party candidates.
Hero Alom ran for two seats in Bogura that fell vacant after the resignation of BNP lawmakers as part of their anti-government movement.
Alom stood as an independent candidate for the Bogura-4 (Kahalu-Nandigram) and Bogura-6 (Sadar) parliamentary seats and hoped to win both if there is a fair election.
Hero Alom also lost his security deposit in the by-election of Bogra-6 (Sadar) constituency.
According to the rules of the Election Commission, a candidate must have at least one vote more than one-eighth of the total valid votes cast (casting votes) to secure the security deposit.
But in this by-election Alom bagged 5,274, which does not constitute 8 percent of the total votes needed for deposit protection, said Zakir Hossain, officer-in-charge of Bogura by-election.
Meanwhile, according to sources, Victoria Nuland, during her upcoming visit would hold series of meetings with political parties, civil society members, NGOs and members of the media. The source said, Bangladesh Nationalist Party, during its meeting with Nuland would handover a dossier comprising names of hundreds of people including politicians and members of the law enforcement agencies with allegations of human rights violation, corruption and money-laundering.
