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The recent expulsion of as many as 142 grassroots leaders and activists by BNP’s central leadership reportedly at the behest of Tarique Rahman for their participation in local government elections testifies to a glaring refusal to the fugitive chief’s earlier call for hitting streets and shunning polls, according to political analysts.

The political observers found BNP’s election boycott a suicidal and undemocratic move that is pushing the party to further isolation from the voters. Moreover, experts say the move to thwart polls and later spreading disinformation to discredit the polls by top BNP leaders have further exposed the once born in barrack party’s reluctance to achieve any public mandate for grabbing power.

Months before the polls, Tarique came up with a call “not ballot, the course of country to be decided on streets”, followed by month-long blockade and arson campaign reportedly by BNP Jamaat combine leadership including Ruhul Kabir Rizvi what rights activists deemed a slap on the face of democracy and protecting rights. Days back, a local BNP leader who publicly renounced Tarique for his policy to assume power by boycotting polls with milk bathing became viral, a symbolic but powerful show of rejection to the party chief who has been evading justice by fleeing to UK despite found guilty of money laundering and colluding with militants in an assassination plot of Sheikh Hasina.

The culture of boycotting national polls unfolded from BNP’s playbook in 2014, a similar strategy in 2024 has been replicated citing non-conducive polls condition but in between this decade an outright failure has been exhibited to garner public support by BNP but no sign of course correction, they added. On the other hand, reported allegations of misappropriation of money meant for party’s grassroots leadership and activists by Tarique’s loyalists as pressed by local leaders are another marker of an extremely volatile condition and that BNP leader Khaleda Zia’s son’s handpicked leaders’ acceptance within local level are on the wane.

“Instead of accepting the political blunder by asking party cadres to stop the polls and taking up efforts to recover the already sullied image of party, public mandate secured by as many as 16 now former BNP leaders in different ranks in the first phase of polls yet a renewed insistence by Tarique and his loyalists in pursuant to demand for snap polls and the call for thwarting even local government polls is another manifestation of undemocratic exercise let alone pushing the party, in further isolation” said Mesbah Kamal, an academic of Dhaka University. Over Tarique’s departure from the country for over 15 years, Mesbah added “It seems Tarique’s absence from the country for a decade has cut him off from on ground reality, abstention from local government polls further pushed the country into mass level isolation and expulsion spree weakened the outfit further at grassroots”. Ajoy Das Gupta, another political observer, likened the politics of boycotting polls with an inglorious episode of BNP’s founder and Tarique’s father Gen Zia who focused on consolidating power not with public mandate but with force.

From the times of the party’s founder General Ziaur Rahman—country’s first military dictator— a farcical referendum had not only been rigged and weaponised to legitimise the iron clad rule till the trait of grabbing power by force without securing mandate of people….. exhibits the the party’s withdrawal from democracy, added Ajoy.

Another alarming trend has been renewed push to spread lies to discredit the polls turnout by BNP to hide failure in garnering public support, according to Gazi Nasiruddin Khokon, a senior journalist.

“Boycotting elections has consequences. In the first place, it leads to disillusionment among party workers, who feel left out of the political process and therefore irrelevant, said Syed Badrul Ahsan, a senior researcher and political observer.

In the second, it carries the risk of citizens not taking seriously a party which endlessly boycotts elections, he said.

“Finally, it is a threat to democracy since constant boycotts of elections lead to suspicions that the party staying away from the polling stations may have other political strategies, not necessarily conducive to elections and the public interest, it believes will install it in power”, said Syed Badrul.

Like 2014, months prior to last national polls, BNP and Jamaat combine enforced over a month-long blockade that saw arson attacks on vehicles and trains, alongside, further solidification of ties with Jamaat despite the outfit publicly threatened to introduce Saariah law and abolish all man made laws.

Moreover, several top BNP leaders had given deadline to capture power without polls like the declaration the country to be run at the directives of Khaleda Zia and Tarique.