Three forms for Khaleda as BNP begins selling nomination papers

The BNP has started its journey to the 11th parliamentary election by allocating nomination forms for three seats to BNP chief Khaleda Zia and beginning the sale of nomination papers.

Sumon Mahmudbdnews24.com
Published : 12 Nov 2018, 04:47 AM
Updated : 12 Nov 2018, 07:09 AM

The sales began at 10:45am on Monday at the party’s headquarters in Dhaka’s Naya Paltan.

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir secured nomination papers for Khaleda Zia from her ancestral home in Feni-1 (Parshuram Upazila, Phulgazi Upazila and Chhagalnaya).

BNP Standing Committee member Nazrul Islam Khan bought a nomination form for her from the Bogura-6 (Sadar) seat.

BNP Standing Committee member Mirza Abbas bought a Bogura-7 (Gabtali and Shahjahanpur) nomination form on behalf of the BNP chief.

Khaleda had won the election as she contested from 5 seats including these three during the eighth national election.

The BNP had boycotted the 10th national parliamentary election on Jan 5, 2014, resulting in the seats going to candidates from parties other than the BNP after a lengthy period of time.

Currently, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal’s Shirin Akhtar holds the Feni-1 seat, while the Jatiya Party’s Nurul Islam Omor holds the Bogura-6 seat.

The BNP chief is currently in jail serving a penalty for 17 years over two cases and it is still not confirmed if she will be contesting the election this time.

Several thousand BNP leaders and activists gathered at the party’s Nayapaltan headquarters at 9am on Monday chanting slogans calling for the release of party chief Khaleda Zia.

Separate nomination paper booths have been set up at eight divisions on the second, fourth and fifth floors of the party’s central offices.

Prospective candidates and their supporters vying for seats in Natore, Rajshahi, Feni, Cumilla, Satkhira, Barishal, Pirojpur, Dhaka, Munshiganj and other outlying areas.

BNP is going to the polls as part of its movement,” said Abdullah from Munshiganj. “We believe that we can register our protest of the injustice against our Desh Netri [Khaleda Zia] through our votes. We will unmask the true face of the government to the people.”

Asif Rahman, who came from Barishal on Sunday, said: “I see a lot of people have gathered at the Nayapaltan offices this morning. We are here to pick up nomination forms. We will run in Patuakhali under the ‘paddy sheaf’ symbol.”

Prospective candidates can buy nomination forms for Tk 5,000, but will also have to pay a security deposit of Tk 25,000. The completed forms can be submitted on Nov 13 and Nov 14.

BNP Secretary-General Mirza Fakhrul also bought a nomination form for Thakurgaon-1 seat. He won the election from the same constituency in 2001 and became a state-minister during that tenure of the BNP.

He lost the seat to Ramesh Chandra Sen from the Awami League in 2008. Ramesh is the current MP from the constituency winning the 2014 election.