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Published : 29 Dec 2025, 11:07 PM
Two former student advisors to the interim government, both drawn from the Anti-discrimination Student Movement, have confirmed they will not stand in the parliamentary election.
Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuyain, the movement’s former coordinator and one of the student representatives who served in the interim cabinet, has meanwhile joined the National Citizen Party (NCP).
Another student advisor, Mahfuj Alam -- who led the campaign to oust the Awami League government alongside him -- said a day earlier that he would not be joining the NCP.
Both men said on Sunday that they will not throw their hat in the ring. Their possible candidacies had been a subject of intense discussion for weeks, but they chose the last day for submitting nomination papers to announce they were stepping back.
As part of an earlier plan to run, they resigned from Muhammad Yunus’s cabinet on Dec 10. Their resignations took effect a day later, when the election schedule was announced.
Since then there has been extensive speculation and media reports about their electoral plans. Asif Mahmud began preparing to run from Dhaka and Cumilla, particularly Dhaka-10, where he started public outreach. Discussions were also held about Mahfuj standing from Lakshmipur, and he had spoken about contesting as an independent.
Within 18 days of their resignations, however, the electoral landscape shifted, and they have now declared they will not run.
In the meantime, the NCP -- formed by frontline leaders of the July Uprising – entered an electoral alliance with Jamaat-e-Islami.
Within hours of that alliance being formally announced, Mahfuj declared on Facebook that he would not be joining the NCP.
At that point, Asif had yet to say anything publicly about either joining a party or contesting. He addressed both questions the following day.
It is not only these two who have stepped aside. Even before and around the time of the NCP-Jamaat alliance being discussed and formally unveiled, several NCP leaders, including Tasmin Jara and Tajnuva Jabeen, resigned from the party.
In addition, 30 NCP leaders wrote to the convenor urging him not to take the party into an alliance with Jamaat.
Mahfuj then issued his own statement. On Facebook, he wrote: “I am not becoming part of this NCP.”
Speaking to BBC Bangla on Sunday evening about his decision not to contest, the former information advisor said: “I have been saying from the very beginning that I will not stand in the election. I did not want to leave the government for that reason. But the government felt that if the student representatives stayed on, questions might be raised about neutrality during the polls. That is why I stepped down.
“But not contesting was my decision from the outset.”
Asked about his brother’s candidacy, Mahfuj said: “He is an NCP leader. He will run or not run according to his own decision. I have nothing to say about that.”
Mahfuj’s brother Mahbub Alam told bdnews24.com that Mahfuj will not be a candidate. He said they do not know who collected nomination forms in Mahfuj’s name.
“He is not standing in the election, so he has not filed nomination papers. I will contest from the NCP, I have submitted my nomination,” Mahbub said.
On Monday evening, Asif clarified his own position. At a press conference at NCP headquarters, he announced that he was joining the party, and that he too would not be standing in the election.
ASIF BECOMES PARTY SPOKESPERSON
Welcoming the former uprising coordinator into the party, NCP Convenor Nahid Islam told the briefing:
“The NCP has now fully entered the electoral race. [Asif] has taken on the responsibility of managing the party’s activities during this election period.
“He has been appointed head of the party’s election steering committee. He will shoulder this heavy responsibility together with those who are not contesting.”
Nahid added that Asif would also be included in the party’s policymaking committee.
Earlier in the same event, NCP’s Chief Coordinator Nasiruddin Patwari announced that he was stepping down from his post as head of the election steering committee.
He said since he and slain Inqilab Moncho Convenor Osman bin Hadi were both running for the Dhaka-8 seat, he could no longer remain in charge of the body overseeing the party’s campaign.
