Ex-Chittagong mayor Manjur collects Awami League nomination paper

Former BNP-backed mayor of Chittagong City Corporation M Manjur Alam has collected a nomination paper for contesting in the upcoming parliamentary election on the Awami League ticket.

He picked up the nomination paper on Saturday from the Awami League's party office in Dhaka’s Dhanmondi area to contest from the Chittagong 10 constituency (Pahartali, Halishahar and Khulshi). 

"I have collected the nomination paper to contest in the upcoming general election from Chittagong 10 constituency. I am confident that I will win the electoral race," Manjur told the Dhaka Tribune. 

Former minister and Awami League Vice President in the Chittagong chapter Afsarul Amin is the incumbent lawmaker of this constituency.

A businessman and social worker, Manjur became a Chittagong City Corporation ward councillor in 1994. He won three consecutive elections from his ward and won the trust of three-time former Chittagong mayor ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury, so much so that the Awami League heavyweight entrusted Manjur with his charge nine times during the mayor's absence.

After Mohiuddin's arrest during the army-backed caretaker government regime in 2007, Manjur ran the city corporation as an acting mayor for two years. It was then the relationship between the two soured.

In the 2010 Chittagong City Corporation election, Manjur, hitherto known as pro-Awami League, vied against Mohiuddin and was endorsed by the BNP. Surprisingly he defeated his political guru, Mohiuddin, by a large margin.

During the previous mayoral election in 2015, Manjur had pulled out from the race a few hours into the polling, bringing allegations of massive rigging.

But in a more dramatic turn of events, he had announced retirement from politics for good, without citing any specific reason behind his decision.

A total of 138 aspirants collected nomination papers in the first two days since Friday to contest in 16 constituencies of Chittagong on Awami League tickets.

The 11th general election will be held on December 23. 

The deadline for nomination submission has been set at November 19, with November 29 set as the last date for withdrawing nominations. 

Nomination papers will be scrutinized on November 22.