8 star candidates contesting national polls
Two cricketers, a footballer and five entertainment celebrities are taking part in the parliamentary elections scheduled to be held on 30 December.
Six of them are contesting from the ruling Awami League and one each from the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and AL ally Jatiya Party has joined the race.
Actor and current cultural affairs minister Asaduzzaman Noor is participating in the elections from Nilphamari-2 constituency after he became elected from the same area in 2001, 2008 and 2014.
Mohammad Moniruzzaman of the BNP is his contender this year, according to the final list of candidates pubished on Sunday.
Mashrafe bin Mortaza is the latest and most discussed candidate as he has taken the AL ticket for contesting the polls from Narail-1 constituency. He is facing the BNP’s
AZM Fariduzzaman and Jatiya Party’s Khandker Fayequzzaman.
Film actor and freedom fighter Faruk whose full name is Akbar Hossain Khan Pathan has joined the polls race in AL ticket from Dhaka-17 (Gulshan) constituency. The opposition has fielded Andalib Rahman Partha of Bangladesh Jatiya Party (BJP) as a candidate of the BNP ally.
Popular singer Momtaz Begum is participating in the parliamentary polls with the boat symbol of the AL in Manikganj-2, against Moinul Islam Khan who is contesting with the BNP’s sheaf of paddy symbol.
Former cricketer and Bangladesh Cricket Board director Nayemur Rahman Durjoy is once again contesting the elections from Manikganj-1 constituency. His rival is the BNP’s SM Jinnah Kabir.
Former footballer and business leader Abdul Salam Murshedi, who became AL member of parliament in a recent by-election, is contesting from Khulna-4 constituency. The BNP has nominated Azizul Bari Helal, former president of the party’s student wing, Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal.
Singer Rumana Morshed Kanak Chapa has taken the BNP ticket for contesting the polls from Sirajganj-1 constituency, against a heavyweight candidate in health and family welfare minister Muhammad Nasim.
Once popular actor Sohel Rana, whose actual name is Masud Parvez, is made a Jatiya Party candidate in Barishal-2 constituency. His rivals are the AL’s Md Shah Alam and the BNP’s Sardar Sharfuddin Ahmed.