File photo of a BNP supporter carrying a memorabilia of sheaf of paddy, the party's electoral symbol, at a rally in Dhaka Mehedi Hasan/Dhaka Tribune

The commission, BNP’s last resort, turned down their plea to reschedule voting at these constituencies or give them the opportunity to field fresh candidates

Opposition BNP is in trouble in 15 constituencies where its aspirants have been declared disqualified following court orders.

In some of these constituencies they had even placed “backup” candidates, with the view that if the Election Commission scraps the prime candidate’s nomination, the backups would be put on the front line. But when the prime candidates received green signal from the commission, the alternative ones, who were were from the BNP, the 20-Party Alliance or Jatiya Oikya Front, withdrew candidatures.

But subsequently the court scrapped the candidacies of 15 aspirants, leaving the party with no one to vote for in those constituencies.

The commission, BNP’s last resort, turned down their plea to reschedule voting at these constituencies or give them the opportunity to field fresh candidates.

So despite being in two political alliances, the 20-party and the Jatiya Oikya Front, BNP is left without any options in these 15.

One option left to the party is to choose an anti-Awami League candidate for its activists and supporters to vote on, but in many of these seats have no anti-Awami League or BNP-sympathizing candidates.

In Jamalpur 1, BNP candidate M Rashiduzzaman Millat lost his candidature with the court’s directive and the party may choose from three options remaining – M Jahangir Alam of Bangladesh Jatiya Party and M Suruzzaman of Bangladesh National Awami Party - from the 20-party Alliance. The party may also pick M Sirazul Haque of Gono Forum, a partner in Oikya Front.

BNP leader Faridul Kabir Talukder Shami was the party’s candidate in Jamalpur 4, but now the party does not have any options left as Gono Forum candidate Rabiul Islam Tarafder has already withdrawn candidature. The other contesting parties here either have good understanding with the ruling Awami League or do not endorse BNP or like-minded politics.

BNP also does not have any possible replacement for its candidates in Joypurhat 1, Jhenaidah 2, Rajshahi 6, Brahmanbaria 4, Dhaka 1 and Bogra 3 for the same reasons.

In Rajshahi 5 however, it has three options to rely on - Professor Nazrul Islam, M Abu Bakar Siddique, and Mahmuda Habiba – even after the court removed the original candidate M Nadim Mostafa.

In Dhaka 20, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) candidate MA Mannan is the only man standing. For Bogra 7, M Montezar Rahman of Bangladesh National Awami Party is the lone replacement. For Manikganj 3, Gono Forum candidate Mofizul Islam Khan Kamal can be an option while, for Chandpur-1, Gono Forum candidate Mohammad Azad Hossain can be an option for BNP voters.

On December 20, BNP and Jatiya Oikya Front urged the Election Commission for a scope to field alternative candidates or to reschedule the election at eight constituencies where court disqualified their candidates on different grounds.

Talking with reporters, BNP Standing Committee member Nazrul Islam Khan explained that in these constituencies they had alternative candidates who had withdrawn. If commission permits they could give them BNP’s symbol.

But the commission said that it will not be able to do anything bypassing the court’s order, and there is no scope of including new candidates or rescheduling polls either.