JASHORE — The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has named candidates in five of Jashore’s six parliamentary seats. District BNP leaders said the remaining seat is likely to be left to an allied party. Among the new faces is Kazi Rownakul Islam Srabon, former president of the BNP’s student wing Chhatra Dal.
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir announced the names at a news conference at the office of the BNP chairperson in the capital’s Gulshan area on Monday, November 3, in the afternoon. Seats where no candidate has been named will be announced later, he said, adding that some will also be left for allies.
In the politically important Jashore-3 Sadar seat, the BNP named Anindya Islam Amit, the party’s Khulna division organizing secretary on the national executive committee. He is the son of the late Tariqul Islam, a former member of the BNP standing committee and former minister, and of current vice chairman Professor Nargis Begum. Anindya Islam Amit also contested the 2018 parliamentary election as a BNP candidate. Since the politics of Jashore is controlled by Nargis Begum, widow of the late Tariqul Islam, and her son Anindya Islam Amit, no other party figure declared a bid in the seat, and his nomination was widely expected.
In Jashore-1 (Sharsha), the BNP named former office secretary Mafikul Hasan Tripti. He has been nominated by the party in the seat before, winning it in the seventh national parliamentary election. Local BNP president Hasan Zahir was also in the running for the nomination.
In Jashore-2 (Jhikargachha-Chaugachha), central executive committee member Sabira Nazmul was named the candidate. Her husband, the late Nazmul Islam, was the Jashore district BNP finance secretary and Jhikargachha upazila BNP president. He was abducted and killed during the rule of the Awami League. After his death, Sabira Nazmul moved from housewife to political newcomer. She was elected upazila chairman in the 2014 upazila parishad election. During her tenure she was sentenced to six years in prison by a special judge’s court in Dhaka in a case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). The court ordered the forfeiture of 10.78 million taka to the state. As a result, the local government division of the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives removed her from office. Mizanur Rahman Khan, former joint general secretary of the district BNP and president of the Jashore Chamber of Commerce, was also in the running.
In Jashore-4 (Bagharpara-Abhaynagar), engineer T.S. Ayub was named the candidate. He is a senior joint secretary of the BNP’s farmers wing Krishak Dal and a member of the party’s central executive committee, and has previously held a BNP nomination. No candidate was named in Jashore-5 (Monirampur). BNP sources said the seat may be left to an allied party. In Jashore-6 (Keshabpur), former Chhatra Dal president Kazi Rownakul Islam Srabon is on the list as a new face. He is currently a member of the BNP’s national executive committee. Although Srabon has a long political background, his family is involved in Awami League politics. After he was elected central president of Chhatra Dal, his family disowned him and he has had no contact with them since. He retains popularity in Jashore-6, however.
Delwar Hossain Khokon, general secretary of the Jashore district BNP, said: “About 35 leaders and activists worked at the grassroots for the party nomination in the six seats. Probable nominations have now been made. There was rivalry among contenders. But everyone will work for whoever the party nominates. Group rivalries exist, but they will gradually be resolved, for the sake of the party alone.”
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report