A group of people, several of them disabled, going door to door to seek votes caught attention of Savar and Ashulia residents.

The candidate they are campaigning for is 25-year-old Edris Ali, a person with disabilities. He is contesting the national election in Dhaka-19 from Bangladesh Muslim League.

Edris was seen recently conducting campaign with the symbol “hurricane lamp", accompanied by some disabled locals using wheelchairs and crutches. 

Locals said it was encouraging to see a person with disabilities running for parliament.

Voter Fatema Begum said her son is also disabled and she was inspired by Edris' courage.

“I pray he becomes successful, because if elected, he can speak for the rights of the disabled in parliament,” she said.     

Raza Newaz Maruf, a campaigner for Edris, said “Inspired by Edris, I have also decided to contest a future election.”

Edris holds an LLB degree from Jahangirnagar University. He is a former captain of the physically-challenged cricket team of Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP), and a writer.

“People with disabilities are not a burden to our society; we can do everything like regular people,” Edris told The Daily Star.

If elected, he would speak for the rights of the disabled in the parliament; turning Savar and Ashulia into planned cities will be another of his priorities, Edris added.  

According to data provided by the Election Commission, Dhaka-19 has 7,48,736 voters.

Nine other candidates are contesting for the seat, including Dr Md Enamur Rahman (from AL), Dr Dewan Mohammad Salahuddin (BNP) and Abul Kalam Azad (JP).