At least 45 of the 57 people appointed as fertiliser dealers in Lakshmipur are leaders or activists of the BNP and its associate bodies, according to an analysis of the agriculture ministry's final list published by Prothom Alo. Several of the appointees have never traded in fertiliser, the review found, while applicants who have run fertiliser businesses for years were left off the list.

The ministry advertised dealerships for Lakshmipur's 58 unions and four municipalities, with applications closing on 10 September. By then 336 people had applied. On 7 October, an official of the ministry's fertiliser management and monitoring wing, agricultural economist Shahnaaz Akter, signed a letter naming the 57 successful applicants and asking the deputy commissioner to begin the next stage of the process.

The appointments matter beyond party politics. Dealers are the licensed sellers of government-supplied fertiliser in each union, so the list decides who controls local supply in a district where farming is the main livelihood. Lakshmipur's char areas along the Meghna grow soybeans and other crops and need large volumes of fertiliser. Dealerships are also valuable businesses, and past rounds of appointments have been politically sensitive.

The ministry's own guidelines set out what a dealer must have: a warehouse holding at least 25 tonnes, with a concrete floor above normal flood level. Food, restaurant supplies, cattle and fish feed, and vegetables may not be stored there, and seed cannot share the same space. Applicants must be financially sound and submit a bank solvency certificate for at least Tk 5 lakh. The guidelines also say preference should go to people already in the fertiliser trade.

The list departs from that last provision in case after case, according to the review. In South Charbangshi union of Raipur, the dealer is Aminul Aziz, the local BNP general secretary. His firm, Gazee Enterprise, had not sold fertiliser before, residents told the newspaper. In Ramganj municipality, the appointment went to Gias Uddin, known as Palash, the municipal BNP general secretary, whose Phalguni Enterprise is also new to the trade.

Others on the list include Mehedi Hasan Aian, named for Keroya union in Raipur and described as a joint convener of the upazila unit of Chhatra Dal; Amir Hossain, known as Chhotu, the senior vice-president of Bamni union BNP; and Masud Mia, joint general secretary of the district Chhatra Dal, appointed for North Char Ababil union. Fahim Bhuiya, president of Charmohana union Chhatra Dal, received the dealership for his union. In Dalal Bazar union, the appointee was Zakir Hossain, the union Jubo Dal president, whose firm deals in steel rods, cement and coconuts.

Traders who were passed over say the process rewarded political ties rather than experience. Shahad Hawladar, a Jubo Dal leader in Char Kadira union, said he had sold fertiliser in the area for 12 years. "I followed every rule and applied," he said. "But I have no political identity, so I did not get the dealership. Someone who has never traded fertiliser was appointed instead." Md Shobon, who has sold fertiliser at Chandraganj bazaar since 2002, said he applied and was rejected for the same reason.

Tarek Rahman, known as Roki, is a panel chairman of Char Martin union and a member of the upazila Jubo Dal. He said his family had been in the fertiliser and pesticide business for about 50 years and had held a dealership until it was cancelled under the previous Awami League government. He applied again and was not appointed. He alleged that Nurul Huda Chowdhury, president of Kamalnagar upazila BNP, had traded dealerships for money.

Nurul Huda rejected the allegation. He said the party had not intervened in the appointments and that everyone had been chosen on their own merit. He disputed parts of the newspaper's account of his family links, saying Lokman Hossain Patawari is a distant cousin and that Mahbubur Rahman is not his nephew. He added, however, that he too had expected the guidelines to put existing fertiliser traders first.

The appointees named in the report denied that politics had helped them. Aminul Aziz said he had submitted the required papers and was selected on merit. Gias Uddin said demand for fertiliser in his area is low but he took the dealership anyway, and that he had not lobbied politically. Amir Hossain said he had run other businesses and was entering fertiliser for the first time. Gias Uddin of Char Martin, a member secretary of the upazila unit of the BNP's Swechchhasebak Dal, said he had never sold fertiliser and that the authorities had checked his documents before selecting him.

Md Hachibur Rahman, a joint convener of the district BNP, defended the appointments. He said the party's leaders and activists had been shut out of dealerships and other opportunities for 17 years, and that since the party came to power many had turned to business. All of them applied under the rules, he said, and the party did not influence the selection.

Zahir Ahmed, deputy director of the district agricultural extension department and member secretary of the district fertiliser and seed monitoring committee, said he had also heard that BNP leaders and activists dominate the list. The upazila committees checked the applications and sent recommendations, he said, and the ministry finalised the list. Deputy Commissioner SM Mehedi Hasan, who chairs the committee, did not answer phone calls and did not respond to a text message seeking comment.

The pattern is not confined to Lakshmipur. Jugantor reported on Thursday that 42 of 45 new BCIC fertiliser dealers in Chuadanga are BNP leaders, their relatives or people linked to Awami League politics, an allegation made by Jamaat-e-Islami lawmakers Masud Parvez Rassel and Md Ruhul Amin at a press conference. Chuadanga's deputy commissioner, Lutfun Nahar, rejected allegations that money changed hands and said upazila committees had vetted the applicants. The same report described complaints in Dumuria, Khulna, where an applicant says an ice factory, a cement shop and a sweet shop were shown as fertiliser sales points, and protests in Satkhira by BNP members who say qualified traders were excluded.

On 15 October, Jamaat Secretary General Mia Golam Porwar demanded an investigation into the appointments nationwide and alleged that BNP leaders had obtained dealerships in exchange for money, that some warehouse documents were fake and that shortages had been reported in the constituencies of 14 BNP lawmakers. No authority has announced an inquiry into the Lakshmipur list, and the ministry has not published the scrutiny reports or the scores behind its decisions.

It is also not entirely clear whether the list is final. The 7 October letter describes the appointments as temporary and subject to conditions. Jugantor quoted Zahir Ahmed as saying this week that final appointments had not been completed, while Prothom Alo treats the 7 October names as the ministry's final list and quotes several of the appointees as dealers.

What happens next will be watched closely in farming districts. Complaints from excluded traders are with the deputy commissioner and the agricultural extension department. Jamaat wants the appointments cancelled and rerun, and some BNP members have joined the calls for re-investigation. Farmers' groups warn that disputes over who holds dealerships can disrupt supply at the start of the Boro season, when demand for urea and other fertiliser rises. The ministry has not said whether it will review the lists, and no evidence supporting the allegations of payments has been made public.