United News of Bangladesh

Prime Minister and BNP Chairman Tarique Rahman has spent around 12 hours at his party’s Gulshan political office, continuing work until around 3:00am on Sunday, as he oversaw key organisational activities and interviewed aspirants for reserved women’s seats in the 13th Jatiya Sangsad. According to Prime Minister’s Additional Press Secretary Atikur Rahman Rumon, the BNP office remained active even long after house lights dimmed across the capital, with the nomination process continuing in full swing until late at night. The interviews of the party aspirants began at 3:00pm on Saturday at the Gulshan office. BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Standing Committee members Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Nazrul Islam Khan, Iqbal Hassan Mahmood Tuku, AZM Zahid Hossain and Selima Rahman were present as members of the nomination board. Candidates from districts under Dhaka, Chattogram, Cumilla, Sylhet and Mymensingh divisions took part in the interviews, which continued till late at night. Earlier on Friday, aspirants from Rajshahi, Rangpur, Khulna, Barishal and Faridpur divisions were interviewed. Party sources said around 900 nomination forms were submitted out of 1,025 sold. Earlier, the Election Commission on April 8 announced the schedule for the reserved women’s seat election. According to the schedule, the deadline for submission of nomination papers is April 21, while scrutiny will be held on April 22 and 23. Appeals against scrutiny decisions can be filed on April 26 and will be disposed of on April 27 and 28. Election symbols will be allotted on April 30, and voting will be held on May 12. Under the seat distribution, the BNP-led alliance will get 36 seats, the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami-aligned bloc 13 seats, and independents one seat.

BNP policymakers are going to sit with the party’s vice-chairmen and advisory council members of its chairperson on Tuesday as part of their planned series of meetings with central leaders to work out their next course of action. The meeting will begin at 3:30pm at the party chairperson’s Gulshan office. The BNP policymakers will also hold a meeting with the party’s senior joint secretary general, secretaries general, organising secretaries and assistant organising secretaries on Wednesday and another with the leaders of different associate bodies on Thursday. The meetings are meant for taking opinions of the party central leaders about the next general election, anti-government movement and work out the party’s next course of action. Talking to UNB, BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said they have decided to hold a series of meetings with their party’s central leaders to discuss the overall political situation in the country. “We’ll take their views on what we should do for waging a movement to restore democracy,” he said. Fakhrul said their party wants a permanent solution to the issue of the formation of an Election Commission. But before that, we want a neutral government under which a neutral election commission will be formed.” READ: Now state ‘backs corruption’: BNP He said the problem over the formation of a polls-time impartial government must be resolved for holding an inclusive and credible national election. BNP organising secretary Syed Emran Saleh Prince said Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and the standing committee members will initially hold three separate meetings with the central leaders. Later, the BNP policymakers will hold meetings with the members of the party's national executive committee and district-level leaders. READ: BNP criticizes PM for her Ashrayan house remarks He said BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman will virtually join each of the meetings.