Tangail 7 constituency comprises Mirzapur upazila and has 322,651 registered voters.
The Awami League and BNP have each won the constituency four times, with the current ruling party holding it since 2001 and the main opposition party throughout the 1990s.
The Jatiya Party and an independent candidate have each won the seat once.
Tangail district Awami League President Fazlur Rahman Khan Farooq has a long history in the constituency, which he first won by a huge margin in the Provincial Assembly election of 1970.
He again won the seat in the first election to the Bangladesh parliament following independence, and has played a major role in establishing the Awami League in Mirzapur upazila and Tangail district ever since.
After the seat changed hands in the 1980s and was dominated by BNP in the 1990s, Fazlur Rahman Khan Farooq handed the Awami League baton to Ekabbar Hossain, who has held Tangail 7 for the ruling party since 2001.
Like father, like son?
This time around, however, Farooq’s son, Khan Ahmed Shuvo, will be hoping to extend his father’s legacy by winning the seat.
The executive member of the Mirzapur district Awami League, who also serves as the president of the Tangail Chamber of Commerce and Industry, has been conducting mass campaigning in Mirzapur by meeting party members, activists and the people of the district.
The Mirzapur Awami League unit is expecting a wind of change through his nomination, especially since the prime minister wants youth to be at the forefront of politics in the country.
Other contenders include district Awami League member Major (retd) Khandaker A Hafiz, and Mirzapur upazila Awami League general secretary and former BRDB chairman, Mir Sharif Mahmud.
BNP nominations
BNP stalwart Abul Kalam Azad Siddique is again expecting to receiving the party nomination in Tangail 7. He won the 1996 election but finished second behind Ekabbar Hossain in both 2001 and 2008.
His followers believe he can regain the seat, even though a section of the party is demanding reformation of the district-level BNP.
Challengers for the ticket include BNP leader Saidur Rahman Sayed Sohrab, prominent industrialist AKM Azad Shadheen, Engr Mridha Nazarul Islam, and Tangail district BNP leader and president of the Tangail District Brickfield Owners' Association, Firoz Haider Khan.
Other candidates
Jatiya Party's (JaPa) Central Committee Vice Chairman Zahirul Islam Zahir has been campaigning in the hope of getting the party's nomination.
Maulana Majibur Rahman from Khelafat Majlish, and Golam Nawaz Sharif from the Bangladesh Workers Party, will also be contesting the seat in December.
