BNP interviews city polls candidates

The nomination board of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) on Sunday interviewed nine nomination seekers, but could not finalise its mayoral candidates for the upcoming Khulna and Gazipur city polls.

The party may announce the names of its candidates for the two city polls by a day or two, BNP chairperson’s media wing member Sayrul Kabir Khan told newsmen after the meeting, reports UNB.

The party’s nomination board, comprising BNP standing committee members, started the interview around 5:30pm with Khulna city BNP general secretary Shafiqul Islam Mona, one of three mayoral nomination aspirants for Khulna city polls.

They also interviewed current mayor Moniruzzaman Moni and Khulna city BNP president Nazrul Islam Manju.

Later, they interviewed six nomination aspirants for Gazipur city—current mayor and party vice chairman professor MA Mannan, executive committee member Hasanuddin Sarkar, Sramik Dal executive president Salauddin Sarkar, Gazipur district unit JCD president Sharfat Hossain and local BNP leaders Shawkat Hossain Sarkar and Abdus Salam.

Though Mannan’s son M Manzurul Karim Rony collected a nomination paper, he could not appear before the interview board since he is staying abroad.

Party insiders said the BNP standing committee members could not finalise the two candidates as there are differences of opinion among them.

A BNP senior leader said the party had a plan to pick Hasanuddin Sarkar as its mayoral candidate for Gazipur. But physical conditions of both MA Mannan and Sarkar are not in a good shape, and it will be difficult for the party to win in Gazipur elections with such elderly candidate as Awami League is likely to field a young contender like its Gazipur city unit general secretary Jahangir Alam.

“So, the standing committee members are in a fix to finalise the mayoral candidate for Gazipur polls. They’ll take the decision after an elaborate discussion,” the BNP leader told UNB.

He said their party also had a decision to select Nazrul Islam Manju as party candidate for Khulna city mayoral polls, but he declined to contest the election, and urged the nomination board to pick current mayor Moni as the party candidate again.

Last week, chief election commissioner KM Nurul Huda announced that the elections to Gazipur and Khulna city corporations will be held on 15 May.

According to the polls schedule, the deadline for the submission of nomination papers is 12 April, while the dates for scrutinising those are 15 and 16 April, and the last date for withdrawal of candidature is 23 April.

BNP candidates Moni and professor Mannan were elected mayors in Khulna and Gazipur polls respectively in the 2013 polls.