BNP names Rezaul Karim as candidate for Bogura-6 vacated by Tarique Rahman

Rezaul Karim (Badsha), president of the Bogura district unit of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), has received his party’s nomination to contest the by-election in the Bogra-6 constituency, vacated by BNP chiarman and Prime Minister Tarique Rahman.

The constituency comprises 21 wards of Bogura municipality and Bogura Sadar Upazila.

The nomination letter, signed by BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, was formally handed over to Rezaual Karim on Thursday evening at the party chairperson’s Gulshan office.

Among others, former Bogura district BNP president AKM Mahbubur Rahman, vice-president Abdul Based and acting general secretary Mosharraf Hossain were present at the time.

Mosharraf Hossain, acting general secretary of Bogura district BNP and member of parliament for Bogura-4, told Prothom Alo that the party’s nomination letter for the Bogura-6 by-election was officially handed to Rezaul Karim at around 6:30 pm at the Gulshan office.

According to the schedule announced by the Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday, voting in the Bogra-6 by-election will be held on 9 April from 7:30 am to 4:30 pm. Nomination papers must be submitted by 2 March, with scrutiny scheduled for 5 March.

Appeals may be filed from 6 to 10 March and will be disposed of on 11 March. The deadline for withdrawal of candidature is 14 March, and electoral symbols will be allocated on 15 March.

In the 13th National Parliamentary Elections held on 12 February, Tarique Rahman won Dhaka-17 and Bogra-6 constituencies both. He then relinquished the Bogra-6 seat the day before taking oath.

Party sources said the BNP has won the Bogra-6 seat consistently since 1991. Among those victories, the party’s late Chairperson Khaleda Zia secured landslide wins in the 1996, 2001 and 2008 elections.

In 2018, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir also won the seat by a large margin.