People seeking nominations from the Awami League are campaigning and making donations to draw the attention of the party’s central leaders and the voters. But nomination seekers from the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami are somewhat quiet.
The Pirojpur 1 constituency, comprised of Pirojpur Sadar, Nazirpur and Nesarabad upazilas, has 417,947 voters.
The Awami League candidates
Nomination seekers from the ruling party include Awami League’s central committee Law Affairs Secretary and also a former secretary of Bangladesh Supreme Court Bar SM Rezaul Karim, incumbent Member of Parliament and the party’s district unit chief AKMA Awal, and Pirojpur municipality mayor and the party’s district unit Vice-President Md Habibur Rahman Malek.
Apart from them, former parliament member Shah Alam, former Chhatra League general secretary Ishaq Ali Khan Panna, Awami Swechchhasebak League’s Organizing Secretary Sazzad Sakib Badshah, and Sheikh Anny Rahman, the wife of Bangabandhu Memorial Trust member secretary Hafizur Rahman Tokon, are also seeking nomination.
Malek is Awal’s younger brother. He used to provide financial assistance and manpower to Awal, but a dispute over the leasing of Pirojpur ferry terminal soured their relationship two years ago. It was after this development that Malek started becoming active in politics.
Malek said he is confident about victory if he gets the nomination but will work for whomever the party picks to run in the election.
Awal became an MP by defeating Jamaat stalwart and war criminal Delwar Hossain Sayedee in the 2008 election. He retained his seat in 2014.
The MP has rejected all allegations against him, claiming that people envious of his success are conspiring against him. He, too, is optimistic about victory in the next national election.
Rezaul Karim said he has been involved with Awami League’s student front Chhatra League since his student days and had been incarcerated during the regimes of HM Ershad and Ziaur Rahman.
He said he was the lawyer of Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader during the caretaker government, and was the counsel on the Bangabandhu killing case and the jail killing case. The lawyer said he has also provided legal aid to people tortured during the BNP-Jamaat coalition government.
“I will seek nomination from Pirojpur 1 constituency and am confident about winning the election. If I do not get picked, then I will work for the party’s chosen candidate,” he said.
Anny Rahman said she has been publicizing the government’s development activities. “I will ask the party to nominate me because I am confident that I will be victorious if I contest the election as the Awami League representative,” she said.
6 candidates in BNP, Jamaat goes with Sayedee’s son
Six people are trying to get the BNP’s nod to contest in the election from this constituency. They are BNP’s Pirojpur unit chief Gazi Nuruzzaman Babul, the party’s central executive committee member and district unit Vice-President Eliza Zaman, district unit Vice-President Fakhrul Alam, Nazirpur Upazila Chairman and the party’s district unit Senior Vice-President Nazrul Islam Khan, BNP’s Pirojpur unit General Secretary Alamgir Hossain, and district unit member barrister Maj (retd) M Sarowar Hossain.
All of them have separately said they were confident about winning the seat if they were picked. They also said they would work for the party candidate to ensure victory.
Jamaat, meanwhile, has picked war criminal Delwar Hossain Sayedee’s son Shamim Bin Sayedee to contest in the election from Pirojpur 1 constituency. Shamim, involved with Jamaat’s Dhaka South unit, is a resident of Indurkandi Upazila under the Pirojpur 2 constituency.
“It is the party’s decision,” he said, when asked why he was going to contest in the election from Pirojpur 1. “My father is a two-time MP. I am confident that the people will vote for me because the area has seen much development under my father.”
Meanwhile, Jatiya Party (Zafar faction) Secretary General and former minister Mostofa Jamal Haider said he wants to contest from this constituency.
“I was a two-time MP and minister. My party will demand a total of 11 seats from the coalition, including Pirojpur 1,” he adds.