Staff Reporter :
Three nomination aspirants for the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) mayor post for the upcoming by-polls bought nomination papers from the ruling Awami League on Saturday as the party started to sell nomination papers on the day.
AL leaders Rasel Asheki and Adom Tamiji Huq collected the nomination papers from the party President Sheikh Hasina’s Dhanmondi political office yesterday.
On the other hand, representatives of Md. Atiqul Islam, a former President of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), collected the nomination paper in the afternoon.
AL will declare its mayor candidate on January 16.
Reliable sources said that the ruling AL is likely to nominate Atiqul Islam, a former BGMEA president, as its candidate.
Meanwhile, BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia presided over the party’s Standing Committee Meeting held at Chairperson’s Gulshan office last night to finalise the mayor candidate for the DNCC by-polls.
Meeting sources said that the BNP decided to pick party National Executive Committee Member Tabith Awal for the post, who also ran against AL contender Annisul Huq in the previous election. The sources said that Tabith Awal got green signal from the party chief and has already done most ground work like printing manifesto, posters and leaflets.
The by-election to the DNCC mayoral post will be held on February 26. Elections in the 36 new Wards, which have been included in DNCC and Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC), will also be held on the same day.
Election Commission on Tuesday announced the schedules of by-polls of DNCC.
Candidates may submit their nomination papers by January 18. The nomination papers will be scrutinised on January 21 and 22 while the last day of withdrawal of candidature is January 29.
DNCC will also pick-up 18 new councillors for 18 new Wards of both Dhaka North and Dhaka South City Corporations, and six women councillors for Dhaka North.
The CEC said that there are 29,48,510 voters in DNCC while the number of voters of 18 new Wards of DSCC is 4,77,410. The mayor post of DNCC fell vacant with the death of Annisul Huq on November 30.
On December 1, the Local Government Division officially declared the post vacant.
