Manjur Alam, a former BNP-backed mayor, seeks Awami League ticket to election

Former Chattogram mayor M Manjur Alam, who won the city polls as a BNP-backed candidate, seeks to contest the 11th parliamentary election on the Awami League’s ticket.

His cousin Abul Kalam Azad bought a nomination form for him from the AL office in Dhanmondi on Saturday evening.

 

“I bought the nomination form to contest the election,” Manjur Alam told bdnews24.com.

Manjur defeated ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury by around 100,000 votes in the 2010 Chattogram city elections.

 

Manjur Alam plans to contest the election from the Chattogram-10 constituency. Awami League Vice President Dr Md Afsarul Amin, the current MP from the constituency, also bought the nomination form for the same seat.

 

On whether he received the green light from the Awami League, Manjur told bdnews24.com: “The form will be submitted to the nomination board. I’ll respond when they invite me to an interview.” 

 

He said he wishes to contest the election from a party with its history going back to his father’s era. 

Manjur Alam's father Abdul Hakim was the Awami League president for Pahartali Ward in Chattogram. He was also an active member of the city Awami League wing.

 

Manjur himself was an Awami League-backed ward councillor in Chattogram. 

 

In April 2016, Manjur ran for re-election as Chattogram city mayor but boycotted the voting alleging large-scale rigging in the port city. 

Manjur failed to find a berth on the BNP’s national executive committee and standing committee announced in 2016.