The ruling Awami League has finalized candidates for 298 seats on Sunday. As there were new faces in this year's nomination, many parliamentarians who were discussed did not get nominated in the election. In this year's nomination, some of the ministers of the present Cabinet have failed to get nomination from the party.
Awami League central office until the finalization of the list of candidates on Sunday, there was great enthusiasm. After the party's General Secretary Obaidul Quader announced the final candidates list, there was a slight decline in it, especially the workers-supporters of those who did not get the nomination suddenly became silent. And among the supporters of those who get nominations, there is unbridled enthusiasm. The party nomination was discussed from afternoon till night. Various reactions have emerged from the media to the party workers.
There was already talk about the fact that several highly-criticized parliamentarians will be dropped out in this election. These parliamentarians were controversial for various reasons including corruption, usurpation. This list includes MP from Faridpur-3 Constituency and former Minister Khandokar Mosharraf Hossain, Minister of State for Information Murad Hasan criticized in the case of obscene phone calls, former Home Minister Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, two-time Member of Parliament from Barisal-4 Constituency Pankaj Nath, former IG and member of Kishoreganj-2 Constituency Noor Mohammad, Manikganj-1 Member of Parliament and former cricketer Naimur Rahman Durjoy, popular businessman and Rajshahi-4 Constituency Member of Parliament Enamul Haque, Sunamganj-1 Constituency Member of Parliament Moazzem Hossain Ratan, who is discussed due to corruption.
3362 people bought nomination papers in the 12th National Parliament election on January 7. Among them were former bureaucrats, former IGP, DIG and businessmen, film actors and actresses. 661 less nomination forms have been sold than last election.
But in the end, many people were left out of the nomination race. The biggest surprise is that 71 parliamentarians of the past parliament this year failed to get nominations. The list of dropped ministers includes three state ministers. They are Minister of State for Labor and Employment Mannujan Sufian, Minister of State for Primary and Mass Education Zakir Hussain and Minister of State for Culture KM Khalid. A total of 71 MPs including Sadek Khan, Dr. Habibe Millat, Jaya Sengupta, Subid Ali Bhuiyan. Party candidates were finalized in the meeting of the Parliamentary Nomination Board chaired by the president of the party, Sheikh Hasina, from November 23 to November 25.
Shakib Al Hasan, captain of the national cricket team, actor Ferdous, former PSC chairman Md. Sadek are in the surprise list of nominations. Dhaka South City Corporation Mayor Saeed Khokon sought nomination for Dhaka-6 and Dhaka-8 constituencies. There was a lot of discussion inside and outside the party about the nomination of the son of former mayor Mohammad Hanif, member of the executive committee of Awami League. In the end he got the chance to be elected with boat symbol.
Actress Mahia Mahi sought nomination from Chapainawabganj-2, actor Masum Parvez applied for nomination from Barisal-3 constituency, actor Siddiqur Rahman, actor Shakil Khan from Dhaka-17. But none of them got the nomination in the end.
Lawyer Barrister Sumon, who is popular on social media for talking about people's problems, also sought nomination. Failing to get the nomination, he declared to be an independent candidate. In this context, he told reporters, since the leader spoke about participatory elections, I have decided to participate in the elections. He is confident of winning.
Son Sulaiman Selim has been nominated to replace three-time elected member of parliament Haji Selim. In Narayanganj Salim Osman and Hasanul Haque Inu seats in Kushtia, no one has been nominated so far. On the other hand, there were new faces in 5 out of 8 seats in Dhaka. These are; Awami League central leader Jahangir Kabir Nanak, Bahauddin Nasim, Film actor Ferdous, Mainul Hossain Khan Nikhil. Saqib has been nominated to the exclusion of heavyweight candidates like Saifuzzaman Shekhar. Last time MP and cricketer Mashrafe was nominated for Narail 2 seat.
8 new faces out of 19 seats in Sylhet division. Of these, Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mahmud is the younger brother of the current IG of Police.
Awami League leader Bahauddin Nasim has also been nominated for Rashed Khan Menon's seat in Dhaka-8. Instructions have been given to contest every seat this year.
Regarding the nomination, Awami League Joint General Secretary Jahangir Kabir Nanak said that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's decision regarding the election nomination is final. However, in some cases, players have to be hired in the field of politics. Although he did not applaud this matter, he said that politics should remain in the hands of politicians.