Ex-Bangladesh PM Zia’s BNP announces nominees for national polls

Dhaka, Nov 3 (PTI) Former Bangladesh prime minister Khaleda Zia’s BNP on Monday announced its candidates for the national election planned for February.

Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir announced the names of party candidates in 237 of the 300 constituencies.

He said that 80-year-old party chairperson Zia would contest from three constituencies and her son, self-exiled acting BNP chairman Tarique Rahman, would vie in the polls from one seat.

“Here we want to particularly point out that we have not given our party nomination in (some) constituencies so that those who took part in the political movement (against the ousted Awami League government) jointly with us could contest from there,” he said.

Alamgir called it a “primary list” as he announced the names emerging from BNP’s policy-making standing committee at the party chairperson's office here, adding that “the list represents possible nominees and may be revised later”.

Rahman virtually joined the event and said it was not possible to nominate everyone. He added that the BNP had also decided to support some candidates from other democratic parties that took part in the “anti-fascist” movement alongside it.

"Because of this, some BNP aspirants may not get party nominations," said 59-year-old Rahman, Zia’s elder son.

BNP earlier announced that Zia, who served as prime minister thrice and is now in poor health, would be the premier if her physical condition permitted, while Rahman was its second option for the position.

Rahman has been living in London since 2008 to evade “politically-motivated persecution", while party leaders said he would return home ahead of the planned election, set for the early part of February.

BNP emerged as the forerunner in the election in the absence of deposed premier Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League, disbanded by Muhammad Yunus’ interim government.

Bangladesh remained deeply divided politically for decades, largely due to the bitter rivalry between Zia and Hasina since the 1975 assassination of Hasina's father and Bangladesh’s top founding leader, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, along with most of his family members in a coup.

Zia’s husband and then army chief general Ziaur Rahman emerged as the strongman of Bangladesh three months after the assassination and subsequently became president of the country and retained that position until his assassination in 1981 in an abortive coup. PTI AR GRS GRS GRS