Picking a comparatively new face for Jhalakathi-2 and attacks on the candidate have hampered the BNP's election campaign in the constituency, comprising Sadar and Nalchity upazilas.

The party also has to deal with a controversy over the role of the contender's father in the 1971 Liberation War.

The candidate -- Zeeba Amina Khan -- will vie with an Awami League heavyweight, Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu, in the December 30 polls.

Amu is criticised for not keeping in touch with the voters, said locals, adding that he would also have to face their anti-incumbency sentiments. 

However, the AL is vigorously campaigning on his behalf.

Visiting different areas of Sadar and Nalchity upazilas on Monday, The Daily Star correspondents saw AL leaders and activists conducting electioneering, using megaphones, holding rallies and bringing out processions. AL posters were seen hung almost everywhere.

In a sharp contrast, a district BNP office was found locked and only a few posters of its nominee were seen.

 "There were [BNP] posters in some areas of the town, but those were torn down. However, nothing will stop the BNP [from winning] here. It is waiting for the right time to get on the ground and campaign," said a party supporter in front of the office.

Monirul Islam Nupur, general secretary of Jhalakathi BNP, said they were not being able to campaign properly due to "repeated attacks on our candidate by Awami League men".

Alleged Chhatra League and Jubo League men attacked the motorcade of Zeeba on December 13. The BNP leaders and activists came under another attack the same day when they went to the Returning Officer's Office to lodge a complaint.

A similar attack took place in Nalchity two days later, Nupur said.

"Jhalakathi is a BNP stronghold. If we can cast votes freely until noon [on the voting day], we will win," he told The Daily Star.

After restoration of democracy in 1991, the BNP won in the constituency twice, the Jatiya Party once and Amu thrice (uncontested in 2014 and in bi-polls in 2000).

This time, the BNP had initially fielded Israt Sultana Elen Bhutto, an ex-MP, as its candidate but later nominated Zeeba, a member of the party's central executive committee.

The change came following demands by some local party leaders, who said Bhutto maintained no contacts with the voters in the last 10 years, said party sources.

Asked whether there was any division within the party over the candidate, Nupur said, "We all are united for the restoration of democracy. Bhutto will also join the campaign soon."

Another BNP leader, wishing anonymity, said they were facing difficulties as Zeeba was comparatively a new face. Besides, Bhutto used to get strong support from her upazila, Nalchity.

Amu and Zeeba are both from Sadar upazila.

The AL and its front organisations in the district denied the allegations and blamed BNP's internal conflict for the attacks.

Khan Saifullah Panir, general secretary of Jhalakathi AL, claimed they were getting good response from the voters.

He also said the BNP fielded a "daughter of a Razakar" and people would not vote for her.

On Amu being “aloof” from the voters, he said, "Amu comes to his constituency more than any other central leader of other areas and keeps a close contact with the people."

ZEEBA'S FATHER

Dulal Saha, former deputy commander of Bangladesh Muktijoddha Sangsad in Jhalakathi, alleged that Zeeba's father Akhter Uddin Ahmed was a Muslim League leader and he worked against the Liberation War.

Akhter was a member of AM Malik's cabinet in 1971.

"He fled the area after the war and went to Saudi Arabia via Pakistan," added Dulal, also an adviser to the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal central committee.

He said the Muktijoddha Sangsad of Jhalakathi in 2012 had sent a list of Razakars and other Pakistani collaborators to the International Crimes Tribunal. Akhter was named in the list, he said.

"As a freedom fighter, I can't accept the BNP's decision to field the daughter of anti-liberation person," he added.

Speaking to The Daily Star over phone on Monday, Zeeba said her father was not an "anti-liberation element". She said her father became a member of the AM Malek cabinet "to ensure security of the people".

Insisting that her father did not commit any crimes, Zeeba claimed that he got general amnesty declared by the Bangabandhu administration after the war.

According to records, out of 37,000 people sent to jail on charges of collaborating with the enemy, about 26,000 were freed following the amnesty declared on November 30, 1973.

Zeeba claimed that her father had been in Bangladesh until 1974.

Nomination of Shameem Sayedee, son of convicted war criminal and Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee, for Pirojpur-1 has left local BNP leaders in a tight corner and made their fight against archrival Awami League tough.

The Jatiya Oikyafront, an alliance of the BNP and some other parties, has picked Shameem ignoring opinions of local BNP leaders.

Sayedee is now serving jail sentence unto death for committing crimes in Pirojpur during the 1971 Liberation War.

While AL candidate SM Rezaul Karim was campaigning vigorously in his electorate comprising Pirojpur Sadar, Nesarabad (Swarupkathi) and Nazirpur upazilas, Shameem was nowhere in the scene. There is no poster or campaigning for him anywhere in the constituency.

On the other hand, Rezaul has to fight not only Shameem but also AKMA Awal, the current AL lawmaker.

Awal had filed nomination paper as an independent candidate defying party decision but later withdrew it. However, many AL leaders are sceptical about the possible role of Awal in the polls.

He has drawn huge controversy allegedly for giving the district's top posts in the party and its associate bodies to his family members and associates. He has also allegedly oppressed some members of the minority community.

He denies the allegations.

After restoration of democracy in the country in the early 90's, the AL won the seat thrice -- in 1991, 2008 and 2014 (uncontested). Sayedee, former nayeb-e-ameer of Jamaat, won in the elections in 1996 and 2001.

But, after 2008, two major incidents have changed the equation.

Firstly, Sayedee is now behind bars and then the re-demarcation of the constituency leaving out Indurkani, the home upazila of Sayedee, and incorporating Hindu-majority Nesarabad upazila.

Around 30 percent of the total 4.18 lakh voters in the constituencies are from the minority communities, local leaders said.

During a visit to different areas of the constituency on Sunday, The Daily Star found no posters, electoral offices or campaigning in support of Sayedee's son. Rezaul, however, was seen campaigning in different areas of Nesarabad.

TOUGH SITUATION FOR BNP

At least 10 BNP leaders, including district committee chief Gazi Nuruzzaman Babul and former minister and Jatiya Party (Zafar) leader Mostafa Jamal Haider, had sought nomination for Pirojpur-1. The JP (Zafar) is a component of the BNP-led 20-party alliance.

But, when the nomination seekers learned about Jamaat's plan to field Shameem as a candidate, they told the party high command that they would work for any BNP candidate or even for Mostafa but not for Shameem, insiders said.

The high command ignored their opinions and chose Shameem.

Speaking anonymously, a local leader said Jamaat fielded Shameem in Parojpur-1 as part of its plan to hold two constituencies -- Pirojpur-1 & 2 -- under their control. Masood Sayedee, another son of Sayedee, is the incumbent upazila chairman of Indurkani, one of the three upazilas in Pirojpur-2.

“We have no problem in forging an alliance with Jamaat. But, it is really difficult for us to work for the son of a convicted war criminal even though there is question about the trial of Sayedee,” Nuruzzaman Babul told The Daily Star on Sunday.

“Actually, they [AL] were given a big weapon by nominating Shameem Sayedee here,” he said, adding, “But we have to follow the higher command's decision and work for him. But, they are not in the election field. They [Jamaat] cannot come to the field due their weak organisation here.”

Nazrul Islam Khan, president of Nazirpur upazila BNP, said they had warned the party high-ups that if Shameem was fielded, the AL would make it a big issue.

“Now the Awami League has made it a big issue and we are facing problems,” he said, adding, “After the re-demarcation of the constituency, it has become difficult for us to win the seat as there are some 1.2 lakh minority voters here.

He, however, said they would follow the party's decision.

BNP leaders said, the minorities are often considered as AL vote bank.

Masood Sayedee said since BNP is a big party, it has many eligible candidates and that they would be frustrated if denied nomination.

“But, we have personally and through the party talked to all of them and most of them have agreed to work with us. There might be a few exceptions,” he added.

He said they were facing obstacles to begin the campaign and at least 30 party men came under attacks when they went for either hanging posters or campaigning. Besides, several others have been arrested, he claimed.

AL candidate Rezaul Karim refuted the allegations.

“They are campaigning and carrying out other activities at night. It is difficult for them to campaign at day time as most of them are accused in different cases,” he said.

QUESTION ABOUT AWAL'S ROLE

Awal, president of district AL, hit the headlines on many occasions for controversial activities. He allegedly worked against the party nominees in the last district and union council elections.

MA Hakim Howlader, general secretary of district AL, alleged that Awal was disconnected from people for his activities and not keeping his promises.

Replying to a question, he said, “Although he agreed to work for our party candidate, it is difficult to believe him as he worked for Sayedee in 1996 and 2001 elections.”

“It's up to him to what he wants. However, I did not get any information that he is working for me,” Rezaul said when whether Awal was working for him.

The Daily Star could not reach Awal over phone for comments.

Children in Jashore's Malopara village still have nightmares of people coming to attack them. And with the election on the horizon, panic has spread even among the adults.

It stems from their experience of the election day on January 5, 2014, when Jamat-Shibir and BNP men unleashed their fury in a series of mindless attacks on the locals. 

They vandalised 130 houses of the Hindu community and torched 10 more in Malopara because the villagers had dared to cast votes. The attackers also looted valuables from the Hindu houses, the locals said.

Although many of the Jamaat-BNP men involved in those attacks have been arrested or are  on the run, a sense of foreboding prevails, particularly among the women and children of the village fishing community living on the banks of the Bhairab river. 

At least two families of the village have sent their young women to their relatives' homes as the polls near.

“I tried to convince my wife to stay home, but she insisted not to take any risk. I gave in to her resolve and sent her to a relative's house in Coat Chandpur in Jhenidah on Wednesday,” said Laltu Sarkar, a local.

Sumoti Sarkar, 14, and Sathi Sarkar, 7, two daughters of his elder brother also accompanied Laltu's wife.

Now an eight-grader, Sumoti was then a class VI student when 300 to 400 Jamaat-Shibir and BNP men wielding sharp weapons and hockey sticks attacked Malopara in Abhoynagar upazila in 2014.

Some 600 Hindus, including women and children, had to flee their village and seek shelter on the other side of the river. While many crossed the river by boats, others swam across.

“Sumoti is so traumatised that she still has nightmares of people coming to attack us,” Kali Dashi Sarkar, mother of Sumoti, told this correspondent while visiting the village on Wednesday.

The hallmark of the attack can still be seen on the tin-roof of Sumoti's house.

That was the third and final attack of the day that came following a rumour that Shibir activist Abu Bakkar had been beaten and killed by the Hindus.

Asked why people still feared the attacks as Jamaat-Shibir and BNP men were out of the area due to police raids, a number of villagers said it was because some of those attackers still roamed around the area freely.

Besides, some attackers had now engaged with the local Awami League, they added.

Earlier, the Jamaat-Shibir men attacked twice, but the residents had managed to resist them from entering the village, said Bishwajit Sarkar.

In the first attack, Bishwajit and five others, including Shyamol Biswas, Kamal Sarkar, Sunil Biswas and Susil Sarkar were seriously beaten.

Their second attempt to enter the village was thwarted by villagers, locals said.

Abhoynagar police lodged a case naming 39 accused. After investigation, police submitted a charge sheet accusing 100 people 16 FIR names were dropped.

A number of villagers said many who took part in the attacks were not made accused in the charge sheet. Some of those charge-sheeted secured bails.

Bishwajit, general secretary of ward-9 unit of Prembagh union, said the government had rebuilt 46 houses and renovated 26 others.

The prime minister visited the village on January 23 that year and before her visit they were also brought under national grid while the government built a primary school after purchasing a piece of land. A temporary police camp was built in the village, but they want it to be a permanent one.

Bishwajit said now they wanted to meet the PM as some of their demands -- for a permanent police camp, creation of jobs, lease of a nearby water body -- were still not fulfilled.

Alleging that there were voting irregularities and clashes during today’s union parishad elections, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) today alleged that the electoral scenario in the country had worsened further.

BNP Standing Committee member Nazrul Islam Khan made the remarks after meeting the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) at the Election Commission office around 4:00pm when voting in the fourth phase of the UP election ended.

A three-member BNP delegation led by Khan met the CEC this afternoon to convey to the EC BNP observations.

“The overall election atmosphere in the country has deteriorated further rather than to improve,” Nazrul Islam Khan said.

“We are sorry to say that the process of vote irregularities, violence, and getting desired candidates elected that began earlier continued. For these, the elections have lost acceptability,” the BNP leader also said.

Terming elections as the driving force of democracy, he further said people will soon lose their respect for the electoral process and for democracy if the elections are not held in an acceptable and congenial manner.

When asked about BNP’s next action plan, Nazrul Islam Khan said his party would follow democratic means to resist voting irregularities and restore people’s faith in elections and democracy.