The BNP yesterday asked its key ally Jamaat-e-Islami to withdraw its candidate from Sylhet City Corporation (SCC) elections scheduled to be held on July 30.

“Jamaat still has adequate time. The party should withdraw its candidate from the polls for the greater interest of our unity," a source quoted BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir as saying. 

Fakhrul made the call in a meeting of top leaders of the BNP-led 20-party alliance, at Khaleda Zia's Gulshan office in the evening, said the source who attended the meeting participated by Jamaat leaders.

BNP mayoral candidate Ariful Haque Chowdhury is set to face a tough challenge in the upcoming SCC elections as he will be contesting the polls against his party's rebel candidate as well as the contender from Jamaat.

On July 10, BNP expelled the rebel candidate, Sylhet City BNP General Secretary Badruzzaman Selim, for violating the party's discipline.

In the meantime, Jamaat leader Ehsanul Mahbub Jubayer remains busy wooing voters ahead of the SCC elections. As Jamaat has no registration with the Election Commission, Jubayer would contest the polls as an independent candidate.

Although BNP leaders have repeatedly been trying to ensure a single candidate under the party-led 20-party alliance for the polls, but the BNP rebel, as well as the Jamaat leader, did not withdraw their candidacy.

Under these circumstances, the meeting of the 20-party combine was held.

Other alliance leaders also asked Jamaat leader Mobarak Hossain to withdraw his party-backed candidate from the election, according to leaders who attended the meeting. 

At one point, Mobarak came under verbal attack from other leaders. Later, he was asked to comply with the decision of the alliance.

In response, Mobarak told the meeting that he would share his party's stance on the matter after discussions with top Jamaat leaders.

National Democratic Party Chairman Golam Mortoza said leaders and activists of the alliance were being misguided as Jamaat announced its candidate in the Sylhet election violating the decision of the alliance.

According to insiders, the alliance leaders had reached the decision to form a committee under Fakhrul's leadership to carry out electioneering for ensuring Ariful's victory.

Later at a press briefing, Fakhrul said, “We want to clarify that there is no division in our 20-party alliance … during local government elections, every political party usually nominates candidate as per their own decision.”

He requested Jamaat to understand the present situation.

Replying to a question on whether nominating individual candidate by Jamaat will impact the national election, Fakhrul said, “Such a question does not arise.”

In the previous SCC polls held in 2013, Arif had bagged 1,07,330 votes while his rival Awami League nominated candidate Kamran had gotten 72,173 votes.

During that election, Arif was supported by all in the BNP-led alliance.