Bangladesh polls: Student-led NCP drifts toward Jamaat amid internal rift over alliance formation

Dhaka, Dec 27 With Bangladesh's general elections drawing closer, the National Citizen Party (NCP) is increasingly leaning toward a possible seat-sharing arrangement with Jamaat-e-Islami, according to multiple local media reports.

The NCP, which emerged from the student-led protests of 2024 against the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government, is reportedly struggling to establish a firm political base ahead of the polls.

Formed by the very students who played a key role in installing Muhammad Yunus as the head of the interim administration, the party is widely believed to enjoy Yunus's patronage.

Initially, the NCP was viewed as an ambitious bid to carve out a third political force outside Bangladesh's traditional power centres -- the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami. The Awami League, which had dominated politics for years, has since been banned by the interim regime.

However, despite significant visibility on social media platforms, the NCP has reportedly failed to translate digital popularity into grassroots support. As a result, the party is now scrambling to align itself with either the BNP or Jamaat-e-Islami, according to reports carried by several Bangladeshi media outlets.

This search for alliances has triggered internal turmoil within the NCP, marked by resignations, factionalism, and uneasy negotiations. In the 350-member Jatiya Sangsad, reports suggest that the NCP is no longer aspiring to contest a large number of seats.

Instead, according to Dhaka-based daily Prothom Alo, the party appears willing to settle for as few as 30 seats in an alliance with the Islamist Jamaat.

Pre-election surveys underline the NCP's dilemma, projecting the BNP as the clear front-runner, with Jamaat not far behind. The churn has effectively split the NCP into two camps -- one advocating an alliance with Jamaat-e-Islami, and the other favouring negotiations with the BNP, particularly after the return of BNP's acting chairman Tarique Rahman to Bangladesh.

Reports of alliance talks and deepening divisions within the party surfaced a day after Mir Arshadul Haque, a prominent leader of the NCP's anti-Jamaat faction, resigned on Thursday.

Haque was serving as the party's joint member secretary and was also the chief coordinator of its Chattogram city unit, The Daily Star reported.

Further fuelling controversy are allegations that Jamaat-e-Islami may offer as much as 1.5 crore taka to the NCP for each constituency it contests as an ally.

Reacting sharply to the developments, an anti-Hasina student leader remarked, "The grave of youth politics is about to be dug."

According to Prothom Alo, discussions between the NCP and Jamaat-e-Islami over a possible seat-sharing formula for the promised national parliamentary election are currently underway.

While some sections of the NCP leadership reportedly see the move as essential for political survival, others view it as a departure from the party's founding principles.

The talks with Jamaat are said to have gathered momentum after earlier efforts to reach an understanding with the BNP failed. However, following Tarique Rahman's return, senior NCP leaders have reportedly reopened communication channels with the BNP as well.

Jamaat-e-Islami, which has reportedly supported Muhammad Yunus since August 2024, has so far refrained from making its final position on seat-sharing with the NCP public.

Jamaat Ameer Shafiqur Rahman, however, stated on Friday that any political party could forge an electoral alliance with Jamaat-e-Islami provided it agrees to three specific conditions.

The NCP itself was formally launched in February 2025 as a student-led political outfit by leaders who fronted the 2024 anti-Hasina protests that eventually forced former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina out of office.

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