With less than a week before the deadline of submission of nomination, the upcoming city corporation elections appear to gather momentum, albeit without the main political opposition BNP making any official announcements yet.
Seven mayor aspirants, including Awami League-backed businessman Annisul Huq and former AL MP and film actress Sarah Begum Kabari, collected nomination forms in Dhaka and Chittagong yesterday for the polls scheduled for April 28.
Since the announcement of the election schedules, 25 aspirants have so far collected nomination forms for the three city corporations – Dhaka north and south, and Chittagong.
Convicted with life in prison for the BDR carnage of 2009, former BNP MP Nasir Uddin Ahmed Pintu collected his nomination form through his lawyer yesterday. Pintu intends to run for mayor of Dhaka south although his party has yet to officially endorse a candidate in the polls, which are technically non-partisan.
The BNP is set to sit for an internal meeting evidently to discuss their participation. However, rumours abound about the possible BNP candidates indicating a strong positive inclination.
Pintu filed an appeal in January 2014 seeking acquittal in the case. Election Commission officials said anyone could collect nomination papers but the election office approves candidatures after a scrutiny.
Main opposition in parliament Jatiya Party nominee Saifuddin Milon collected nomination forms yesterday for Dhaka South.
Dhaka North saw two more mayor aspirants collect papers yesterday – former head of BGMEA Annisul Huq, who is Awami League’s chosen candidate, and former Awami League MP Sarah Begum Kabari.
Annisul told reporters that it was an opportunity for him to extend services to more people. He said he wanted to ensure good governance and aspired to see a beautiful Dhaka.
Kabari collected her nomination form through a representative. She said she would be running as an independent candidate.
A total of 397 aspirants collected their nomination forms for the posts of mayor, ward councillors and reserved female ward councillors of Chittagong City Corporation.
AL-nominated AJM Nasir Uddin, party’s Chittagong unit General Secretary Syed Sajjad Zoha and Hossain Mohammad Muzibul Haque collected nomination forms for mayor so far.
Until yesterday, eight mayor aspirants collected nomination forms, 46 for reserved female ward councillor and 343 for ward councillor posts. The deadline for submitting papers is March 29 and the last date for withdrawal of candidacy is April 9.
