BNP to release candidacy forms to pick Dhaka North mayoral by-election candidate

With the prospect of having a candidate from its close ally Jamaat-e-Islami, the BNP has decided to release candidacy forms to choose a candidate for the Dhaka North mayoral by-polls.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 13 Jan 2018, 06:55 PM
Updated : 13 Jan 2018, 06:55 PM

Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir announced the decision taken by policymakers of the party as a meeting at Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s Gulshan offices on Saturday night.

Earlier, the party had said that the 20-party alliance entrusted BNP chief Khaleda Zia to select the candidate.

“The aspirants can buy the forms for Tk 10,000 from our Naya Paltan headquarters until 4pm on Sunday and submit it with Tk 25,000 more as deposit by Monday 4pm,” he said.

“We will finalise the candidate after this process,” he added.

Meanwhile, Muhammad Selim Uddin, president of Jamaat Dhaka North unit has continued to campaign for the by-election though the party can not nominate any candidate as its registration with the Election Commission has been cancelled. If the Jamaat leader contest as an independent candidate, the BNP would lose the Jamaat votes.

With this complexity over the candidacy in the backdrop, Khaleda sat with the leaders of the BNP-led 20-party alliance last week. The BNP said the leaders of the alliance put trust on Khaleda in choosing the candidate at the meeting.

The party had said that a candidate would be selected at Saturday’s meeting, but now they were releasing nominations forms, opening up the contests for candidacy.

The Election Commission is holding the by-polls on Feb 26 while the deadline for submitting nomination paper is Jan 18. The DNCC mayor post fell vacant after the death of Annisul Haque who was elected on AL ticket three years ago.

Eight aspirants of the ruling Awami League’s ticket, including businessman Atiqul Islam and former MP HBM Iqbal, collected the party’s nomination forms as it started the distribution on Saturday.

In 2015, Awami League-backed Annisul Huq beat the BNP-supported candidate Tabith Awal in the first election to Dhaka North City Corporation.

Tabith is vying for the BNP’s nomination again this time. The other BNP frontrunners are the party’s Assistant Publication Secretary Shakil Wahed, and former MP retired Major Akhtaruzzaman.

The polls this time will be held on party lines after the amendment of local government election law.