'BNP-may-win' hope spurs race for nomination
The hope that the party may win the election if it is held in a free and fair manner has spurred a large number of BNP leaders to emerge as MP aspirants.
A senior leader close to BNP's acting Chairman Tarique Rahman said the party had, on an average, five aspirants preparing to contest for each seat in parliament.
The picture is different in only a few constituencies where BNP's bigwigs are likely to run, the leader said wishing anonymity.
"Many leaders believe they will easily win the polls if they are nominated by the BNP," he said, referring to the 2001 polls, in which the party won a landslide victory with many newcomers winning seats in parliament.
"This has created enthusiasm among many to seek BNP nomination."
However, the party has yet to formally announce that it will join the coming polls. But BNP's recent activities suggest that it will definitely join.
The party has conducted three surveys in the last few months and prepared a list of prospective MP candidates, insiders said.
It primarily selected three candidates for each constituency as it wants to take advantage of a provision in the Representation of People Order.
Each of the three will be asked to file for contesting the polls. Of them, one will be finalised for each seat just before the deadline for withdrawing nomination papers, party insiders added.
The laws concerned allow a registered political party to nominate more than one candidate for each parliamentary constituency to file for candidature. But before the last date of withdrawing nomination papers, the party will have to write again to the returning officer picking one of the three as its candidate. The rest of nomination papers would automatically be considered invalid.
The BNP leaders think this option would the BNP on multiple accounts.
Even if one of the three gets disqualified during scrutiny, the remaining two will stay in the race. This strategy will also help the BNP contain dissident candidates, they said.
Those who will not get the final confirmation, will not be able to contest the polls as independent, because of restrictions.
To contest the polls as an independent, one needs to submit signatures of one percent of the constituents.
"Only 100 leaders have been given indications that they will get party nomination. They were asked to begin working in their constituencies," Ruhul Quddus Talukdar Dulu, organising secretary of BNP, told The Daily Star yesterday.
If the party joins the election, it will finalise the candidates soon and keep some seats for the leaders of the Jatiya Oikyafront and partners in the BNP-led 20 party alliance, he said.
The situation is not the same in the ruling Awami League camp. AL leaders are publicly campaigning in their areas through placing posters, placards and billboards announcing their willingness to contest the polls.
But the BNP leaders are obviously taking a different strategy. In many areas, MP aspirants cannot hold public meetings. They are providing financial assistance to many organisations in their areas as part of a campaign, said BNP insiders.
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