Hamid is bound for Bangabhaban

Mohammad Abdul Hamid, a career Awami League politician who has been standing in for the President since the second week of last month, is poised to enter the presidential palace for long-term.

He has served as Speaker of Parliament twice and got elected to the Jatiya Sangsad seven times.

Ruling Awami League leaders have been saying Hamid is competent and acceptable to all to replace his immediate predecessor Md Zillur Rahman who died on Mar 20 in Singapore.

The BNP, the largest party in the opposition, has said it will give a formal reaction to his nomination as the President later, saying the matter needs discussion.

Parliament is set to elect the next President, largely a ceremonial post in parliamentary democracy, on Apr 29.

The leaders of Awami League headed by senior party member Tofail Ahmed submitted three nomination papers to the commission on Hamid’s name after Acting President Hamid signed it.

Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmed has said they will formally declare the lone candidate Hamid as the President after screening the nomination papers.

The Election Commission said, since independence, 16 people have become the President of Bangladesh over 19 terms.

A meeting of the ruling party’s Parliamentary Party nominated the Speaker as its presidential contender on Sunday. His rise to presidency looks certain since the Awami League and its allies hold absolute majority in Parliament.

Later, four party leaders headed by ASM Feroz collected those nominations from the commission.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who presided over the meeting, went to the Speaker’s office in Parliament to meet Hamid at noon. Awami league General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam and Chief Whip Abdus Shahid accompanied Hasina.

Hamid signed the papers then.

Syed Ashraful Islam and Advisory Council member Tofail Ahmed were the proposer and supporter of Hamid, respectively, in one of the three nomination forms.

Chief Whip Abdus Shahid and ASM Feroz submitted the two other forms as proposers with Abdul Matin Khosru and Shegufta Yasmin Emily mentioned as supporters.

After submitting the nomination papers, Tofail told reporters, “Abdul Hamid is competent and acceptable to all. Various political parties and quarters have also heeded him with respect.”

“He is skilled. And he never compromised in matters of ethics. He is a dedicated politician,” he added

Later, BNP Standing Committee member Khandker Mosharraf Hossain said after a meeting of the 18-Party alliance in Dhaka “our reaction will be made public after talks at the party’s forum”.

After the death of Zillur Rahman, the BNP had demanded nomination of someone who was ‘acceptable’ to everyone.

The BNP had alleged the Speaker was ‘biased’ in his treatment in Parliament, a charge Hamid had been denying outright.

The CEC said Hamid would be declared President as per Section 7 of the Presidential Election Act 1991.

According to the election schedule, Wednesday is the last day for withdrawal of the nomination. No voting will take place if there is no other contender for the post.

Hamid was born in Kamalpur, Mithamoin Upazila on 1944, to parents Hazi Mohammaf Teyebuddin and Tamiza Khatun.

He passed IA and BA from Durudayal College of Kishoreganj and LLB from Central Law College under Dhaka University.

He was President of the Kishoreganj District Bar Association five times during the period 1990 to 1996.

Hamid began his political journey on 1959 after he joined the Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student front of Awami League. He was actively involved in the Anti-Ayub movement in 1961 and was eventually imprisoned by the Pakistan government.

In 1963 he was elected the general secretary and in 1965 the Vice- President of the Students’ Union in Gurudayal College of Kishoreganj.

Hamid was the founder president of Chhatra League’s Kishoreganj sub-divisional unit in 1964 and also got elected as the vice president of Chhatra League in Mymensingh district in 1966-1967.

He joined the Awami League in 1969.

In 1970 Abdul Hamid was elected as the junior most member of the National Assembly, from Mymensingh-18 constituency.

He joined Bangladesh’s War of Independence in the following year.

He was awarded the Swadhinata Padak this year for his contributions during the Liberation War.

He was elected from Kishoreganj-5 constituency as a Member of Parliament in the national elections of 1986, 1991, 1996, 2001 and 2009.

Hamid was unanimously elected Deputy Speaker in the seventh Parliament on Jul 13, 1996. He later went on to become the Speaker in 2001, Jul 12.

After the 2008 national elections, he was unanimously elected Speaker for the second term.