With the announcement of 36 candidates today, BNP has now finalised candidates for 272 constituencies
The BNP has announced candidates for 36 more constituencies, including several in Dhaka, where the National Citizen Party is fielding its top leaders as contenders in the upcoming national elections.
The party gave a ticket to Reza Kibria, son of former finance minister Shah AMS Kibria from the previous Awami League government. Reza joined the BNP just three days ago.
However, the BNP's new list of candidates, announced today, did not include Mir Mahbubur Rahman Snigdho, brother of July uprising martyr Mir Mahfuzur Rahman Mugdho. Snigdho had joined the BNP on November 3.
Announcing the candidates at a press conference today, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said the party would announce the candidates for its alliance partners at the right time.
Earlier, on November 3, BNP released a preliminary list of candidates for 237 constituencies. A day later, the candidate for Madaripur-1 was suspended. In total, the party has now announced candidates for 272 constituencies. The remaining 28 constituencies will be announced "in due time," said Fakhrul.
According to the party's new list of candidates, BNP nominated former Chattra Dal General Secretary Habibur Rashid for Dhaka-9. NCP Senior Joint Secretary Tasnim Jara collected a nomination form for the same seat.
The BNP gave its party ticket to SM Jahangir Hossain, joint convener of Dhaka north BNP, for Dhaka-18, a constituency where NCP Chief Coordinator Nasiruddin Patawary also collected a nomination form.
The party announced BNP National Executive Committee Member Sheikh Rabiul Alam as its candidate for Dhaka-10. However, LGRD Adviser Asif Mahmud Sajib Bhuiyan expressed interest in contesting from this seat. He has already changed his constituency from Cumilla and become a voter in Dhaka-10.
Rabiul, also the managing director of Pleasant Properties Ltd, has already received a show-cause notice from the BNP for his alleged involvement in criminal activities. He was the BNP's candidate for Dhaka-10 in the 2018 national elections.
With the new nominations, BNP has now finalised candidates for 17 out of 20 Dhaka constituencies. The remaining constituencies are Dhaka-13, 17, and 20.
Reza Kibria has been nominated as BNP's candidate for Habiganj-1. In the 2018 elections, he contested from the same seat using the "Sheaf of Paddy" symbol as a candidate of the Gono Forum, an ally of the Jatiya Oikya Front led by eminent jurist Dr Kamal Hossain, and had contested with BNP's electoral symbol.
Though BNP had adopted a policy of nominating only one candidate from a family for the upcoming election, the party has made exceptions in a few cases.
In the first round, BNP nominated former Deputy Minister Abdus Salam Pinto for Tangail-2. In the second round, his younger brother Sultan Salahuddin Tuku, also the publicity affairs secretary of BNP, was nominated for Tangail-5.
Meanwhile, for Dhaka-7, BNP nominated Hamidur Rahman, a member of the party's central executive committee, where Mamunul Haque, ameer of the Bangladesh Khelafat Majlis, is likely to contest.
Ariful Haque Chowdhury, two-time mayor of Sylhet City Corporation, is now contesting the national polls for the first time as BNP's candidate for Sylhet-4.
