The Awami League is relying on seasoned politicians – mostly incumbent lawmakers – to reestablish its rule in the constituencies of capital Dhaka through the upcoming 11th parliamentary election.
Of the 20 seats, 14 are currently represented in parliament by ruling party leaders and six by others, including those from Jatiya Party(JaPa) and Workers Party of Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, its arch-rival BNP has come out with a new strategy – choosing the family members of the top leaders of the party and its allies to contest the December 30 polls and take over the seats.
This is the first time BNP, which is out of parliament since 2006, will share the constituencies in the capital with the partners in the 20-Party Alliance it leads.
Apart from family members, BNP has offered many of the seats to the partners in Jatiya Oikya Front and 20-Party Alliance.
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On Wednesday, a total of 3,056 candidates had submitted their nomination papers across Bangladesh to contest the polls from 300 constituencies.
Of them, 265 are running for office from the 20 seats in the capital. Total 22 candidates, the highest, had submitted nomination papers from Dhaka 8 alone.
AL wants ruling MPs to dominate
The ruling party has already announced its candidates,13 of them incumbent lawmakers, for the 16 out of these 20 seats with the plan to win them again.
The four other seats– Dhaka 4, 6, 8, and 20 – are expected to be distributed among the leaders of Awami League’s ally parties.
Industrialist Salman F Rahman, also the private sector adviser to Awami League President Sheikh Hasina, has been selected for Dhaka 1, even though he isquite a new face in the party’s parliamentary politics.
The incumbent lawmaker of Dhaka 2 is Food Minister Qamrul Islam, who had joined Awami League in the 1960s.
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State Minister for Power, Energy, and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid Bipu, a real estate businessman, has been a career politician since student life and is the Dhaka 3MP since the ninth general election.
The ruling party, however, has named two candidates– Habibur Rahman Mollah and Kazi Monirul Islam – in Dhaka 5 for now.
Incumbent MP Habibur, a freedom fighter and a businessman, is involved with Awami League since the sixties and is a three-time lawmaker; while Monirul is the president of the party’s Jatrabari unit.
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For Dhaka 7, the party has also named Haji Mohammad Salim and businessman Abul Hasnat for now. Salim had begun his political journey with BNP, but joined Awami League in 1996. The two-time lawmaker was denied the party ticket in the last election, but he still won after running independently.
Current Dhaka 9 MP Saber Hossain Chowdhury, who has maintained a clean image as a politician, is a businessman and a three-time lawmaker.
For Dhaka 10, the party has chosen incumbent and two-time MP Barrister Sheikh Fazle Nur Taposh, who is the nephew of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and son of Awami Jubo League founder Sheikh Fazlul Haque Moni.
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The party’s Dhaka 11 candidate AKM Rahmatullah is a freedom fighter and a tannery-owning footwear-exporting businessman. He has been a politician since the sixties and is a four-time lawmaker.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, who has been the Dhaka 12 MP since 2008, came through root level politics and is a ceramic industry businessman.
Meanwhile, in Dhaka 13, the party has selected its Dhaka city north unit General Secretary Sadek Khan, dropping central Joint General Secretary Jahangir Kabir Nanak.
Dhaka 14 MP Aslamul Hoque is a career politician and a well-known businessman.
Industrialist and Dhaka 15lawmaker Kamal Ahmed Majumder was elected MP in the last three general elections.
Businessman Elias Uddin Mollah is currently serving his second term as the Awami League MP from Dhaka 16 constituency.
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For Dhaka 17, the ruling party has named veteran actor Akbar Hossain Pathan Farooque and Kader Khan for now. Farooque has been associated with Awami League for more than five decades and the leader of Bangabandhu Sanskritik Jote for many years.
Former home minister Advocate Sahara Khatun, who is currently serving her second term in parliament, has been nominated for Dhaka 18 again.
Incumbent Dhaka 19 MP Enamur Rahaman is a doctor, but he became active in politics since 2013 after his institution Enam Medical College Hospital came into the limelight for its tremendous support in treating injured victims of the Rana Plaza disaster in Savar.
BNP picks new faces, allies
On the other hand, major opposition BNP plans to establish its dominance in Dhaka’s seats by fielding veteran leaders and a number of new faces, mostly family members of seasoned politicians.
The party has nominated multiple candidates in each of the 300 seats across the country, to ensure that one can contend if for some reason another’s candidacy is cancelled.
Antara Selim Huda is among the party’s possible candidates in Dhaka 1. She is the daughter of former minister Nazmul Huda, who used to represent the party in parliament from that seat.
From Dhaka 2, either the BNP chairperson's Adviser and former Dhaka 3 MP Amanullah Aman or his son Irfan Ibne Aman will contest.
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BNP has also named its National Standing Committee member Gayeshwar Chandra Roy and his daughter-in-law Nipun Roy Chowdhury for Dhaka 3 for now. The party’s Central Executive Committee member Nipun is also the daughter of former state minister Nitai Roy Chowdhury.
For Dhaka 4, party leader Salauddin Ahmed and his son Tanvir Ahmed Robin are BNP’s picks for the time being.
BNP’s Dhaka metropolitan (South) unit Vice-President Nobi Ullah Nabi is the sole contestant in Dhaka 5.
Former Dhaka city corporation mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka's son Ishraque Hossain is likely to contest from Dhaka 6.
BNP Standing Committee member Mirza Abbas will contest from Dhaka 8.
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For Dhaka 9, the party will choose from Abbas’s wife and Jatiyatabadi Mohila Dal President Afroza Abbas, BNP Joint Secretary General and Dhaka metropolitan (South) unit President Habibun Nabi Khan Sohel,and Habibur Rashid.
Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal President Saiful Alam Nirob is the choice for Dhaka 12.
For Dhaka 13, the party chairperson’s Advisors Abdus Salam and Ataur Rahman Dhali have been named for now.
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Former national team footballer Aminul Islam and former MP SA Khaleque's son SA Siddique Saju are BNP’s picks for Dhaka 14; and Mamun Hasan for Dhaka 15.
The party has also named Maj Gen (retd) Ruhul Alam Chowdhury, Prof Farhad Halim Donar and Kamal Zaman Molla for Dhaka 17; and Dewan Mohammad Salahuddin for Dhaka 19.
Other runners
Both Awami League and BNP will share some seats with their alliance partners, although which ones they would be is yet to be confirmed. The confirmation will come once the final list of candidates is published.
However, many leaders from the member parties of both coalitions had submitted nomination forms to the offices of the returning officers in Dhaka on Wednesday.
Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad has sought nomination for Dhaka 17.
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On the other hand, GonoForum leaders Mostafa Mohsin Montu and Subrata Chowdhury are gunning for Dhaka 7 and 6, respectively.
Jamaat-e-Islami leader Shafiqur Rahman has submitted his nomination papers to run from Dhaka 15 with BNP’s electoral symbol.
Also, Zonayed Saki, the chief coordinator of Ganasanghati Andolon,will run as an independent candidate from Dhaka 12.