‘Little known’ BNM, BSP now registered parties

The Election Commission yesterday officially declared two "little-known" and "suddenly established" parties -- Bangladesh Nationalist Movement (BNM) and Bangladesh Supreme Party (BSP) -- as registered political parties with the commission.

The EC unanimously decided to register the parties. BNM's symbol will be an "anchor", while BSP will have "ektara" as its symbol, read an EC statement. 

This registration took place just ahead of the next polls, slated for late December or early January.

A political party must be registered with the EC to participate in the national polls, and with the two new ones, the total number of registered political parties is now 44.

Since 2008, 49 political parties have been registered with the EC. However, the registration of five of them was cancelled later.

The commission registered three parties ahead of the 2014 elections but did not register any ahead of the 2018 national polls.

The commission yesterday took the decision to register the new parties following a hearing on Monday after different individuals raised four objections regarding EC's decision to grant registration to the parties.

On July 16, the commission issued a public notice seeking objections to their primary decision to register BNM and BSP.

The EC began the registration process for new parties in May 2022, as 93 political parties sought registration.

Twelve parties were primarily selected for registration, with two of them finally being able to secure it at the end.

Meanwhile, soon after the EC primarily cleared BNM and BSP for registration, many politicians alleged that BNM is a party formed by some former BNP leaders, while BSP is an ally of some Islamist parties having ties with Awami League.

"Who are they? I've never heard of them before. The question is, why is the EC registering two unknown parties, excluding the ones that are rather active?" said Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik (Shujan) Secretary Badiul Alam Majumdar.

"It's an agency job. The party will get registration to create a rift in BNP," said Mustafizur Rahman Iran, chairman of Labour Party, which failed to get a registration.

A BNP standing committee member told The Daily Star yesterday that they smelled something fishy in the EC's decision. "It's part of the [government's] conspiracy to split BNP," he alleged, wishing anonymity.

BNM was formed in July 2021. Its convener is Abdur Rahman, and Maj (retd) Md Hanif is its member secretary. Both are former BNP leaders.

Rahman was elected MP with BNP's nomination from Barguna-1 in 1996 but he later left the party. Hanif resigned from BNP's executive committee in June 2021.

BNM Spokesperson and Joint Convener Sarowar Hossain left BNP in 2019.

Sarowar denied their party's involvement in any conspiracy.

"The allegation against BNM of hatching a conspiracy to split BNP is completely false," he said.

BNM insiders said at least nine of the 33 central leaders of the party are retired army officers.

Meanwhile, BSP, which was formed in 2019, is a member of the newly floated Islamic Liberal Alliance.

According to media reports, BSP organised different programmes last year where AL lawmakers and party leaders, including Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya and former AL MP Aga Khan, joined either as chief or special guests.

BSP's chairman Syed Saifuddin Ahmed is the nephew of Syed Najibul Bashar Maizbhandari, chairman of Bangladesh Tarikat Federation, a government ally.

However, Mohammad Ibrahim Miah, office secretary of BSP, claimed, "Leaders of different political parties attend our social programmes."

Election Commissioner Md Alamgir earlier said that they do not make decisions based on agency reports.

He said that BNM and BSP are set to get registration as they have fulfilled criteria set by law.