BNP meeting tomorrow to choose its Presidential candidate for Bangladesh
Graphics: Agamir Somoy
Despite much discussion and speculation over who the BNP's candidate for the presidency will be, the candidate has not yet been finalized. For that, one must wait until tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon. A meeting between BNP Chairman and Prime Minister Tarique Rahman and the party's policymakers will be held at 12:00 PM on Thursday, where a final decision regarding the BNP's presidential candidate will be made. This was learned from multiple leaders at the party's policy-making level.
Earlier, on August 10, the BNP's National Standing Committee, in its last meeting, delegated the responsibility of nominating the party's candidate for the presidency to Chairman Tarique Rahman.
Regarding potential presidential candidates, the name of the party's Secretary General and Minister for Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, is being widely discussed in political circles. According to party policy-making sources, Mirza Fakhrul Islam is likely to be the BNP's candidate for the presidency. However, his name has not been officially announced by the party as of Wednesday.
A member of the BNP's Standing Committee told Agamir Somoy on Wednesday night, "We will know the name of the candidate for the presidency after Thursday's meeting with the Chairman."
He added, "The likely candidate's signature will be taken in that meeting, and a delegation will be sent to submit the nomination papers, along with the proposer's and seconder's signatures, to the Election Commission."
According to the presidential election schedule, Thursday, August 13, is the day for submitting nomination papers. August 16 is for scrutiny, August 18 is the last day for withdrawal, and voting will take place on August 20.
Meanwhile, the BNP collected two nomination papers for the presidential election last Sunday. Chief Whip of the National Parliament and BNP Vice Chairman Nurul Islam Moni collected one nomination paper. The other was collected by the party's Senior Joint Secretary General, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi.
The Jamaat-e-Islami-led 11-party alliance has already announced its candidate for the presidency: Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) President Colonel (Retd.) Oli Ahmed. He will also submit his nomination papers on Thursday.
