Ahead of Local Government Polls, BNP and Jamaat Trade Charges of Collusion with Awami League

The Awami League's activities have been banned since the mass uprising of 2024, and a section of its leaders is still in hiding. Yet the contest over who can attract the party's voters had already surfaced among political parties before the last parliamentary election. With local government elections approaching, that calculation is back, and the ruling and opposition parties have begun trading accusations of collusion with the Awami League.

Under the Election Commission's announced schedule, the local government election programme is set to begin on 21 January with union parishad elections in five phases. The commission plans to hold voting in about 4,300 union parishads across the country by 27 May.

Political parties began preparing for the local government elections even before the commission's announcement, with calculations under way on everything from candidate selection to election strategy.

The ruling BNP wants to ensure a single candidate in the elections and has taken an initiative to select candidates from the grassroots. The opposition Jamaat-e-Islami, which contested the national parliamentary election with a seat-sharing understanding within an 11-party alliance, is preparing to contest the local government elections on its own. With no understanding reached, the National Citizen Party (NCP), a partner in the 11-party bloc, is also moving to field its own candidates.

Although the banned Awami League is not directly active in these preparations, its name keeps returning to the discussion. The BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami are attacking each other with allegations of secret collusion with the party, while the NCP, despite opposing the Awami League's participation, says it will keep a conditional election opportunity open for individuals linked to the party.

BNP chairman and Prime Minister Tarique Rahman and the party's acting secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi have alleged collusion between Jamaat and the Awami League. BNP leaders fear Jamaat is trying to gain an electoral advantage through an understanding with the Awami League at the local level.

BNP joint secretary general Syed Emran Saleh Prince said on Sunday: 'This time the Awami League and Jamaat are becoming one. We are seeing it at the local level. Local leaders and activists can also see it.'

Jamaat-e-Islami has denied the allegation and counter-accused the BNP, saying it is the BNP that has colluded with the Awami League to win votes. At a discussion at the National Press Club on Sunday, Jamaat ameer and opposition leader Shafiqur Rahman said to the BNP: 'You begged the Awami League for votes, saying all sorts of things during the election.'

Earlier, Jamaat secretary general Mia Golam Parwar also accused the BNP of maintaining secret contact with the Awami League. In response, the BNP's acting secretary general said at a press conference in the capital that the people would not accept any attempt to create anarchy or disorder in the country by joining hands with the defeated fascism, and that those who collude with the defeated forces for political gain would be marked out before the people.

NCP leaders have also been alleging for several days that the BNP is in collusion with the Awami League. At an event in the capital on Sunday, NCP convener Nahid Islam said the BNP government is doing whatever is necessary to bring the Awami League back through collusion with it.

NCP member secretary Akhtar Hossain said: 'The banned terrorist organisation Awami League and the Jatiya Party are associates of the autocrat. They cannot take part in the election in any way. But those linked to the Awami League against whom there are no allegations of enforced disappearance, murder or involvement in fascism will get the opportunity to contest the election with the NCP's support.'