The ruling Awami League and opposition BNP will today announce the names of their mayoral candidates for the forthcoming elections to the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) and the Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC).
The arch-political rivals will scrutinize the aspirants’ nomination papers, which were submitted on Friday, and decide who they will field as their mayoral candidates for the polls on January 30.
On Friday, three high-profile aspirants, including the sons of two influential politicians of the BNP, submitted their nomination forms at the party central office.
All three of them submitted the forms to BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi at the party’s Naya Paltan central office around 4pm.
Ishraque Hossain, son of the late BNP vice-chairman and former mayor of undivided Dhaka City Corporation Sadeque Hossain Khoka, submitted his nomination paper seeking the party’s DSCC mayoral candidacy.
On the other hand, BNP Executive Committee member Tabith Awal and former Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal president Asaduzzaman Ripon also submitted forms soliciting nominations as the BNP’s DNCC mayoral candidate.
Tabith is the elder son of senior BNP leader Abdul Awal Mintoo, while Ripon is a special secretary on the Executive Committee.
After receiving the nomination papers, Rizvi told reporters that the party would officially announce the names of its candidates for the city polls after a meeting of the party’s parliamentary body on Saturday.
“As Ishraque Hossain is the sole BNP candidate for the DSCC election, he only needs to go through some formalities,” he added.
Sources have hinted that Ishraque and Tabith, both young leaders in the BNP, will be given party tickets to vie for the two Dhaka mayoral posts.
In another development on Friday, the components of the BNP-led 20-Party Alliance decided to extend their full support to the BNP’s mayoral candidates for the city corporation polls.
BNP Standing Committee member Nazrul Islam Khan made the announcement following a meeting of the coalition at the BNP chairperson’s Gulshan office.
DNCC Mayor Atiqul Islam submits his nomination paper for the upcoming mayoral polls at Awami League president’s office in Dhanmondi on Friday, December 27, 2019 | Focus Bangla
According to the Election Commission, the mayoral and councillor aspirants of both DSCC and DNCC will have to submit their nomination papers to the commission by December 31.
The nomination papers will be scrutinized on January 2, while the candidates will have until January 9 to withdraw from the race.
20 seeking AL ticket for mayoral race
Meanwhile, a total of 20 people — 12 from Dhaka North and eight from Dhaka South — are seeking the Awami League ticket to take part in the elections for the two mayoral offices.
All of them submitted their nomination papers at the party president’s Dhanmondi political office on Friday, the last day to submit the documents.
Those seeking the AL ticket for the DNCC polls are incumbent Mayor Atiqul Islam, Helena Jahangir, Adam Tamizi Haque, Shahidullah Osmani, Yaad Ali Fakir, Jaman Bhuiyan, Kutubuddin Nannu, Md Idris Ali Molla, Alauddin Mohammad, Zerin Sultana Kanta, Khairul Mazid and Rehena Farhad Ivy.
The aspirants for the ticket to contest the DSCC polls are incumbent Mayor Sayeed Khokon, Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh, Haji Md Salim, Nazibullah Hiru, Md Nazmul Haque, MA Rashid, Ashraf Hossain Siddiqui and Haji Abul Hasnat.
Speaking at a press briefing at the Dhanmondi party office on Friday, Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader said the AL would finalize and formally announce its mayoral candidates on Saturday.
“The nominations will be finalized at a meeting of the party’s Local Government Nomination Board at Ganabhaban at 6pm on Saturday,” he said.
Terming the ensuing city polls as a challenge for the ruling party, Quader said only those who were honest and popular would get party nominations for the mayoral and councillor posts.
The elections to the two city corporations would be competitive, he said, and added that the Election Commission and the law enforcement agencies would work to ensure free and fair voting.
