Over 3,500 gunning for 300 Awami League tickets in December election

More than 3,500 people want the Awami League’s nomination for contesting in the general elections with its boat logo.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 12 Nov 2018, 04:47 PM
Updated : 12 Nov 2018, 05:32 PM

The Awami League Parliamentary Board will choose 300 out of total 3,628 aspirants, who bought the party’s nomination forms in four days until Monday, according to leaders who have knowledge of the accounts.

Some bought more than one form while there are only one candidate for the nomination in some constituencies.

The ruling party has earned Tk 108.84 million from the sale of the forms at Tk 30,000 apiece.

Awami League Joint General Secretary Mahbub-Ul Alam Hanif, however, told the media that they had sold over 4,000 forms in four days.

Cheerful aspirants and their supporters thronged the Dhanmondi office of party chief Sheikh Hasina and adjacent areas after the sale started on Friday.

The huge gatherings and processions of the supporters created long tailbacks on the streets in the area. The parked cars of the aspirants and their supporters also narrowed down the space for other vehicles to move on the streets.

Dipu Moni submits her Awami League nomination form to the party’s General Secretary Obaidul Quader at the party headquarters in Dhanmondi on Monday. Photo: Asif Mahmud Ove

SINGLE CANDIDATES FOR SEVEN SEATS

The party has sold nomination forms to single candidates, including Hasina and General Secretary Obaidul Quader, for seven constituencies.   

The sale started through the collection of two forms for Hasina on Friday. One of the forms was for Gopalganj 3 (Tungiparha-Kotaliparha) constituency. The party said it would disclose later the other constituency Hasina is eyeing.

She was elected from Gopalganj 3 and Rangpur 6, her in-laws’ constituency, in 2014. She later left the Rangpur seat and Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury won the by-election.

Shirin Sharmin has bought the form for the Rangpur seat again.

Quader is vying for the Noakhali 5 (Companyganj) constituency. 

No-one but Presidium Member Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim bought the nomination form for Goapalganj 2.

In Barishal 1 (Gouranadi), Central Working Member Abul Hasnat Abdullah is the single candidate for the party’s ticket while Sheikh Helal Uddin in Bagerhat 1 and Sheikh Salahuddin Jewel in Khulna 2.

All four are cousins to Hasina.

Whip Md Shahab Uddin is the single candidate for the Awami League’s nomination in Moulvibazar 1 (Kulaura) seat.    

The Awami League Parliamentary Board will start interviewing the aspirants on Wednesday.

After finalising the list of the 300 candidates, some may get dropped as the party is likely to go to the election under a coalition.

The Election Commission will accept nominations until Nov 28, according to a new schedule. The new election day is Dec 30.