BNP puts trust in 60 new faces

Around 60 new faces got BNP tickets for the December 30 parliamentary election and most of them are former student leaders and family members of veteran or deceased party leaders.

The BNP handed out nominations for 280 constituencies over the last two days. It picked some young female aspirants, including popular singer Kanak Chapa.

About a dozen people of religious and ethnic minorities received the party nomination.

“We tried to bring diversity in nominating candidates. We tried to give nomination to a good number of candidates of religious and ethnic minority communities as we had made commitments,” Moudud Ahmed, party's standing committee member, told The Daily Star yesterday.

Goyeshwar Chandra Roy, Nitai Roy Chowdhury, Goutam Chokroborty, Joyonto Kundu, Ramesh Datta, Tarun Dey, Sikriti Kumar Mondal, Jhon Gomej, Depan Dewan, Moni Swapan Dewan and Sachin Cru Jeri got the nominations.

The BNP wrapped up giving nomination letters to its aspirants last night but could not say how many letters were issued.

Its Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, however, claimed that they nominated 800 in 280 constituencies.

NEW FACES

More than two dozen former Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal and Jubo Dal leaders got BNP nominations for the first time.

Chhatra Dal President Rajib Ahsan, Vice-President Mamunuru Rashid Mamun, and Secretary Akram Hossain were among them.

Former Chhatra Dal leaders Amirul Islam Alim, Hasan Mamun, Taifur Islam Tipu, Rakibul Islam Bokul, Mia Nurruddin Ahmed Opu, Anisur Rahman Talukdar Khokon, Saiful Islam Firoz, Joyonto Kundu, Tarun Dey, Romesh Datta, and Farhad Hossain Azad also got party tickets.

BNP's youth wing Jubo Dal's Senior Vice-President Murtajul Karim Baadru and SM Jahangir were supposed to submit their nomination papers today. Former Jubo Dal leaders Saiful Alam Nirob, Nurul Islam Noyon, Abdul Kadir Bhuyian Jewel, and Mamun Hasan got the party's nomination letter for the first time.

Former lawmaker SA Khaleque's son SA Saju got nominated in his father's constituency. Former Dhaka City Corporation mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka's son Ishraque Hossain also got picked.

CONTROVERSIAL ONES 

There were some controversial figures with BNP nominations.

Aminul Huq, Nadim Mustafa, and Mizanur Rahman Minu of Rajshahi; Alamgir Kabir of Naogaon; and Ruhul Kuddus Talukdar Dulu of Natore allegedly patronised militants in their areas during the 2001-06 tenure of the BNP-led alliance government.

These political leaders, then ministers or lawmakers, reportedly had links with Islamist militants in the region.

The party also nominated Faisal Alim, son of convicted war criminal Abdul Alim who has been sentenced to imprisonment until death for his offences committed during the Liberation War.

CELEBRITY RUNNERS

The BNP issued nomination letters to actors Helal Khan in Sylhet and Shayla Aktar in Faridpur.

Singer Baby Naznin, Kanak Chapa, and Monir Khan also got the party's blessing to run.