Residents in Rangpur are waiting to see if the Rangpur-3 seat will be won by Jatiya Party or go to Ershad’s nephew, an independent candidate.
The seat had always been known as the unassailable fort of HM Ershad; he only left the seat for the 2008, 8th parliamentary elections.
That year, he won the Dhaka-17 seat and his wife, Raushon Ershad, won the by- election.
Since HM Ershad did not name any successor for the seat, several Jatiya Party leaders expressed their interest to contest it.
Prior to the election, a feud developed within the party between Ershad’s wife, Raushon Ershad and brother, GM Quader over the post of party chairman and leader of the parliament.
As per Raushon Ershad’s demand, GM Quader accepted the candidature of Ershad’s son, Rahgir Al Mahi Shad Ershad.
However, party workers in Rangpur are unwilling to accept Shad as a candidate because he is unknown and deemed an amateur in politics.
Therefore, JP workers feel that Shad’s main opponent is Ershad’s nephew, Hossain Moqbul Shahriar Asif, who will be competing as an independent.
It’s found that workers of the Jatiya Party are taking part in separate campaigns prior to the election.
Meanwhile, Raushon Ershad is supposed to come to Rangpur on Oct 3 along with party secretary general Mashiur Rahman Ranga.
Reportedly, Shad Ershad has met with a leader from the Hindu community and held meetings with district Awami League leaders. They have pledged to work for Shad.
Meanwhile, Shahriar Asif has said: “I protect Ershad’s ancestral home but was not given the nomination and therefore, am taking part in the election as a challenge.”
Shad being an outsider, no one will vote for him, he feels.
Two year ago, Asif lost Ershad’s support when he competed at the Rangpur City polls as an independent candidate after failing to get party nomination. Without party support, he lost by a huge margin.
BNP candidate, Rita Rahman is the daughter of Mashiur Rahman, a former minister of Ziaur Rahman’s cabinet.
Since Rita took part in the parliamentary election, she is a known figure. Rangpur-3 has 175 voting centres with 442,072 voters. Of them, 221,310 are men while 221,762 are women. The vote will be held on Oct 5.