Awami League announces nominees for 298 seats in national polls

The Awami League has unveiled its lineup of nominees for the upcoming 12th national elections. Some members of the current parliament have been left out of the list.

On Sunday, the ruling party announced its candidates for 298 constituencies, with two seats -- Kushtia-2 and Narayanganj-5 -- left vacant.

Similar to the past three national elections, the Awami League has opted to form a coalition for the elections. But it has named candidates in seats won by its coalition partners in the last election. The possibility of compromise with other parties will determine the final decision.

Party chief Sheikh Hasina will once again contest the Gopalganj-3 seat, while General Secretary Obaidul Quader will vie for Noakhali-5.

The incumbent MPs who failed to secure an Awami League ticket this time include former LGRD minister Khandaker Mossharraf Hossain, former home minister Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir, former state minister for information Murad Hasan, former inspector general of police Nur Mohammad, and Old Dhaka stalwart Haji Mohammad Salim.

Following the announcement of the schedule for the Jan 7 elections, the Awami League conducted the sale of nomination forms from Nov 18-21. As many as 3,362 aspirants collected forms for the 300 seats.

Apart from party members, star cricketer Shakib Al Hasan and Dhallywood actors Ferdous Ahmed, Mahia Mahi, and Shamsun Nahar Shimla also bought nomination forms from the Awami League.

Shakib has been selected as the party's candidate for the Magura-1 parliamentary seat, while Ferdous is set to contest elections from Dhaka-10.

Former Bangladesh cricket captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza will also run for re-election from the Narail-2 constituency as a ruling party candidate.