Awami League likely to pick several new faces this time

The ruling Awami League has finalised their candidates for the 12th national elections in Khulna, Barishal and Maymensigh divisions. There will be new faces in several constituencies in these three divisions. Many of them are newcomers, according to the sources in the party.

The nomination board sat in a meeting chaired by party president and prime minister Sheikh Hasina for the second day on Friday. Earlier, the ruling party finalised their candidates in Rajshahi and Rangpur divisions on Thursday.

Awami League president Sheikh Hasina will exchange views with the nomination aspirants after finalising all the party candidates for the upcoming parliamentary election. The meeting will be held at 10:00 am Sunday at the Gonobhaban, the official residence of the prime minister. A press release signed by Awami League’s office secretary Biplab Barua confirmed this. Meanwhile, sources in the party said, the complete list of all the 300 Awami League candidates could be published on Sunday.

The Awami League maintained a secrecy regarding the meeting venue and which divisions have got its candidates nominated. Addressing a press conference at the party president’s office in Dhanmondi Friday afternoon, Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader said, “The party leaders insist on revealing the name of the nominated candidates once they know about the name of the division we are working on. This is why we are maintaining a bit of secrecy in this regard.”

However, people close to the members of Awami League’s nomination board are talking about changes in several constituencies. There have been wide speculations within the party about the probable new faces.

It has been learnt from these sources that there are indications of changes in two constituencies in Barishal district. A female leader from the central committee is going to get the nomination from one of the constituencies in Barishal. In another constituency in Barishal, a leader of district Awami League will replace a former Chhatra League leader as the party candidate.

Meanwhile, a former army official from a Jashore constituency has been dropped. Son-in-law of a member of the nomination board is likely to secure the nomination from that constituency.

Exclusion of a young MP in the Mymensingh is also in the talks. However, there has been no information as to who is going to replace him. Besides, it has been confirmed that a former bureaucrat will get the nomination in Jamalpur. Besides, an incumbent MP from that district, who has been elected the MP several times, is likely to be replaced by a newcomer. There have also been talks about change in a constituency of Bhola.

A source in the Awami League said cricketer Shakib Al Hasan is in consideration for getting the nomination from a constituency in Dhaka or Magura.

Speaking regarding this, Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader said, “Several film stars in India are MPs. They are not directly involved in politics either. So there are such examples even in the largest democracy of the world. Shakib Al Hasan will get involved in politics and will serve the people. He can get a nomination from anywhere in the country.”

Obaidul Quader held a press conference at the AL president’s office in the capital’s Dhanmondi Friday afternoon. Speaking regarding the secrecy about the list of party candidates, he said, “Everyone insists on revealing the name of the candidates when we declare the name of a specific division. Therefore, we are not declaring the names of the divisions.”

“Several newcomers have been included and several incumbent MPs have been dropped out. Those who are electable have been nominated,” the AL general secretary added.

Obaidul Quader said, “We are not making any official announcement as there could be mistakes in our decisions. We have kept an option for us to change the decisions. This is why we have decided to announce all the 300 nominated candidates at once instead of declaring it division wise or district wise.”

Referring to the dropouts, the ruling party general secretary said, “Those who have been excluded are not likely to win. They have lost acceptability to the people. Those who do not have any acceptance among the people are not being nominated.”

Speaking regarding the candidates, who competed in the by-polls, Obaidul Quader said, “They will run for the election again. They will seek nomination now and we may nominate them too as they didn’t have much chance to work. We may consider giving them that chance if they are capable of serving the people or the party.”

Asked about BNP’s participation in the polls, “We cannot rule out BNP. They still have a chance to join the polls. BNP may not participate in the polls as a party or under any alliance, but several of their leaders are taking preparations for the polls.”

He further said, “We have information that many of them will take part in the polls as independent candidates. A lot depends on the developments in the final phase.”

Speaking regarding candidates from their allies, the Awami League general secretary said, “The candidate must be popular even if he or she is a candidate from the allied parties. The Islamists parties have met the prime minister and shared their views. These parties will join the polls.”

The Awami League will nominate candidates for all the 300 constituencies initially. Later, they will withdraw candidates from some constituencies based on the negotiations with the other parties in the alliance.