At least 60 aspirants are trying to bag nomination ticket from the ruling Bangladesh Awami League to contest the by-election to Dhaka-14 constituency, which has become vacant after the death of its lawmaker Aslamu-ul-Huq.
At least 20 of them already have collected nomination forms from the party office while the rest are in the process of collecting the forms.
The by election to three vacant seats is scheduled to be held on June 21 and the ruling Awami League started selling nomination forms from last Friday.
According to sources, each of the aspirants is desperate to get nomination from the Awami League or take part in the by-election with the symbol ‘Boat’ with the hope of that once the nomination is bagged, he or she is sure of being elected in the contest as the main opposition BNP is not taking part in the by-election.
Sources said, in the list of the aspirants, there are some renegade-tested leaders and workers of the party, as well as there are many others, who have been infiltrated into the Awami League after 2009. Those aspirants also include some businessmen and actors and party leaders are not far behind.
Even there are some candidates, those who earlier were involved in the BNP politics.
As part of their wills, each of the aspirants hanged many banners, pasted posters and displayed festoons seeking for the blessings of the local people so that they could get nomination or be elected as the lawmaker of this seat.
Besides, some of them are distributing gifts and foods among the local people as part of their pre-electoral campaign.
However, sources in the Awami League said that the party is looking for such a candidate from the party who is honest, dedicated and capable of being elected as a lawmaker. In this regard, a process is on to collect information from the field level.
On the other hand, with the existence of a huge number of candidates, there is a curiosity among the local people about who is going to be selected as the candidate.
Local people said there are many reasons behind the interest of being candidate for this constituency. If anybody is elected as the lawmaker of this seat, he or she would become the controller of the Gabtali cattle market, bus terminal, truck terminal, sand and stone businesses, big shopping malls, extortion of footpaths, botanical gardens, lease of Mirpur Zoo, ferry ghat and mazar.
Notable candidates in Dhaka-14 constituency include Maksuda Haque, wife of late Aslamul Haque, Sabina Akhter Tuhin, former Member of Parliament for reserved seat and President of Dhaka Metropolitan North Youth Women's League, ABM Mazharul Anam, President of Darussalam Thana Awami League, Mobasher Chowdhury, Central Joint General Secretary of Swechchhasebak League, Mizanur Rahman Mizan, Dhaka Metropolitan North Awami League Organizing Secretary, Darussalam Thana Awami League General Secretary Kazi Faridul Haque Happy, Dhaka Metropolitan North Awami League Member Delwar Hossain, Shah Ali Thana Awami League President Aga Khan Mintu, Dhaka North City Corporation 11 Ward Commissioner Dewan Abdul Mannan, Mirpur Thana Awami League President SM Hanif, Mahila Awami League Central Joint General Secretary Shirin Roxana, Fuwang Foods Managing Director Dr. Arif Ahmed Chowdhury, Councilor Mujib Sarwar Masum and Abu Taher.
Moreover, SM Mannan Kochi, general secretary of Dhaka Metropolitan North Awami League, Ekhlasuddin Mollah, brother of Dhaka-17 MP Ilias Uddin Mollah and Mainul Hossain Khan Nikhil, general secretary of Juba League want to get a boat even if they are not residents of Dhaka-14 constituency.
In addition, businessman Lutfar Rahman and actor Monwar Hossain Dipzal also want to get the Awami League ticket.
