SCC polls: BNP wants withdrawal of Jamaat candidate

BNP today asked its key political ally Jamaat-e-Islami to withdraw its candidate from Sylhet City Corporation (SCC) elections scheduled to be held on July 30.

"Time is still adequate for Jamaat. The party should withdraw its candidate from the polls for the greater interest of our unity," BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir made the call during a meeting in Dhaka this evening.

BNP mayoral candidate Ariful Haque Chowdhury is set to face a tough challenge in the upcoming SCC elections as he will be contesting the polls against his party’s rebel candidate as well as another contender from BNP's key ally Jamaat-e-Islami.

On July 10, BNP expelled the rebel candidate, Sylhet City BNP General Secretary Badruzzaman Selim, for violating the party’s discipline.

Besides, Jamaat leader Ehsanul Mahbub Jubayer, a mayoral contender, is spending very busy hours wooing voters ahead of the SCC elections.

Although BNP leaders have repeatedly been trying to ensure a single candidate under the party-led 20-party alliance for the polls, the BNP rebel as well as the Jamaat leader did not withdraw their candidacy.

Under these circumstances, top brasses of the BNP-led 20-party alliance held the meeting at the party Chairperson Khaleda Zia's Gulshan office to resolve the issue, sources said.

Other leaders of the 20-party alliance also asked Jamaat leader Mobarak Hossain to withdraw his party-backed candidate from the election, according to the sources.  

Mobarak also came under verbal attacks of the 20-party alliance leaders and was asked to comply with the decision of the alliance.

Responding to the call, Mobarak told the meeting that he would share the party's stance in this regard after holding talks with top leadership of Jamaat.

National Democratic Party Chairman Golam Mortoza said leaders and activists of the alliance are being misguided as Jamaat announced its candidate in the election violating decision of the 20-party alliance.

The 20-party alliance leaders reached a decision that they would form a committee under the leadership of Fakhrul to carry out electioneering for Ariful's victory, according to insiders of the alliance.

In the previous SCC polls held in 2013, BNP backed candidate Arif bagged 1,07,330 votes while his rival Awami League nominated candidate Kamran got 72,173 votes.

During that election, Arif was supported by all in the BNP-led alliance.