The first day of a 48-hour strike demanding the retention of four parliamentary seats in Bagerhat ended on Wednesday amid road blockades, protest marches, sit-ins, street meetings, and public inconvenience.
Meanwhile, in Faridpur’s Bhanga, protesters have announced an indefinite road blockade against the reorganisation of parliamentary seats.
According to the pre-planned schedule, supporters of the strike set fires and placed tree branches on roads from 6 am Wednesday to demonstrate their support. Leaders and activists of the All-Party Joint Committee held sit-ins, intermittent marches, and street meetings at over a hundred key points across the district.
As a result, public transport across all roads in Bagerhat came to a complete halt. Long-distance buses to Dhaka, Chattogram, Khulna, Barishal, and 16 other routes were also suspended. Children and teenagers were seen playing cricket on the empty roads, while people needing to travel for medical emergencies, examinations, or other urgent purposes faced severe hardship, often walking long distances on foot.
On Bagerhat-Pirojpur Highway, roads at Fatepur, Boitpur, and on Khulna-Bagerhat Highway at Mathavanga and Barakpur were blocked by protesters, who reportedly created obstacles even for people with urgent needs. However, leaders of the All-Party Joint Committee asked activists to refrain from such behavior.
Former district BNP president and co-convener of the joint committee, M.A. Salam, said, “We do not wish for public suffering. The Election Commission’s arbitrary decision has caused people inconvenience. But this is the demand of every citizen of the district. We are protesting together in solidarity.”
Throughout the day, leaders and activists of the All-Party Joint Committee conducted intermittent protest marches at various locations, including Mongla, Rampal, Fakirhat, Mollahat, Chitalmari, Kachua, Morelganj, Sharankhola, and Bagerhat Sadar. The committee has announced that the strike will continue until 6 am on Friday (Sept 12). They also said a writ petition will be filed in the High Court if the Election Commission does not issue a decision by then.
Bagerhat had long been represented by four parliamentary constituencies. On July 30, ahead of the upcoming 13th national parliamentary election, the Election Commission proposed reducing one of Bagerhat’s four seats, leaving the district with three. This sparked protests among local residents, who participated in hearings demanding retention of all four seats. Despite this, the Election Commission issued a final gazette on Sept 4, changing only the boundaries and leaving three seats intact. According to the final gazette, the constituencies are Bagerhat-1 (Bagerhat Sadar-Chitalmari-Mollahat), Bagerhat-2 (Fakirhat-Rampal-Mongla), and Bagerhat-3 (Kachua-Morelganj-Sharankhola). Previously, Bagerhat-1 included Chitalmari-Mollahat-Fakirhat, Bagerhat-2 included Bagerhat Sadar-Kachua, Bagerhat-3 included Rampal-Mongla, and Bagerhat-4 included Morelganj-Sharankhola. Protesters said the new arrangement ignores the people’s demand.
