Hindu candidate Gobindadeb Pramanik barred from contesting Bangladesh elections in ousted PM Sheikh Hasina’s constituency Gopalganj-3

Bangladesh advocate Gobindadeb Pramanik, general secretary of the central committee of Bangladesh Jatiya Hindu Mohajote, had decided to run as an independent candidate from Gopalganj-3 in the upcoming election. But Gobindadeb Pramanik's nomination was rejected on Saturday by a returning officer, reports TOI's Shishir Arya. The rejection of the key Hindu candidate comes at a time when there are reports of persecution of minorities in Bangladesh, thus raising concerns in India. Ousted PM Sheikh Hasina was the MP from this seat, which has over 50% Hindu voters.

Pramanik is also general secretary of Bangladesh Jatiya Hindu Mahajote. An apolitical organisation, it is an alliance of 23 outfits and is considered a Hindutva fountainhead in the country.

Why was Gobindadeb Pramanik's nomination rejected?

"Advocate Gobinda Chandra Pramanik will contest the national election as an independent candidate from the Gopalganj-3 constituency. He is scheduled to submit his nomination paper on December 28," Bijan Bijan Roy, president of the district unit of the Hindu Mohajote, had told The Daily Star. But his nomination was rejected due to alleged invalid signatures.


According to a provision in Bangladesh's election law, independent candidates need to submit their signatures from at least 1 percent of voters in their constituency, the law states. This law was used to reject his nomination, Gobindadeb Pramanik told TOI. Speaking to The Times of India from Gopalganj, he alleged that after he managed to collect the required signatures, workers of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) threatened those who had signed in his support. He claimed they were pressured to appear before the returning officer and state that their signatures were either not given or were submitted incorrectly.

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Following this, the returning officer rejected the nomination of Gobindadeb Pramanik for Bangladesh elections, citing "invalid" signatures. Gobindadeb Pramanik claimed that he decided to run as an independent candidate as he enjoyed local support in the constituency, noting that around 51 percent of Gopalganj's nearly 3 lakh voters are Hindus. He alleged that BNP resorted to such tactics because it lacked popular support in the constituency.

“Even though the signatures of 1% of my voters were genuine, the district returning officer refused to accept the affidavits and declared the signatures invalid,” Pramanik told TOI, adding that he plans to appeal to the Election Commission and may approach the High Court if needed.

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Another Hindu candidate, Dulal Biswas, also had his nomination papers rejected. Biswas was fielded by the registered political party Gono Forum, so the 1% voter affidavit rule did not apply to him. His nomination was reportedly put on hold due to missing documents, and he was given time to resubmit them.

In the neighbouring Gopalganj-2 constituency, another Independent Hindu candidate, Utpal Biswas, remains in the race. The seat was earlier represented by former prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s cousin, Sheikh Salim. “I work closely with farmers and the underprivileged. I believe they will vote for me,” Utpal Biswas said.Bangladesh is heading into the polls under an interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus. While authorities have pledged a free and peaceful election, recent attacks on media outlets and sporadic violence have raised concerns.

(With TOI inputs)