BNP Chairperson’s Personal Secretary, ABM Abdus Sattar, has collected nomination form on behalf of the party’s acting chairman Tarique Rahman.
Sattar visited the Dhaka Divisional Commissioner’s Office at Segunbagicha at 10:50am on Sunday for this purpose. He collected the form at 11:10am, confirmed BNP Media Cell member Shairul Kabir Khan.
Tarique will contest the upcoming general election from the Dhaka-17 constituency, according to party sources.
On Saturday night, several BNP insiders said Tarique Rahman is interested in contesting from a Dhaka constituency, and discussions are ongoing among senior party leaders. Speculation intensified after Andalib Rahman Partha collected nomination papers for Bhola-1 and after Tarique Rahman and his daughter, Zaima Rahman, became registered voters in Dhaka-17.
Tarique Rahman and Zaima Rahman applied online to become voters in Dhaka North City Corporation Ward 19, which falls under the Gulshan area.
On Saturday afternoon, they went to the Election Commission headquarters in Agargaon, where they completed photographs, biometric data and signatures. Following the submission of documents, their names were included in the voter list after approval by the Election Commission.
Both applied using the address of “Firoza,” the Gulshan residence of former prime minister Khaleda Zia. Tarique Rahman had not been on the voter list for many years due to his long stay abroad since 2008. Being a registered voter is mandatory to contest the parliamentary election scheduled for 12 February.
The Dhaka-17 constituency comprises Gulshan, Banani, Dhaka Cantonment, Bhashantek, Kalachandpur, Shahjadpur, Korail and Mohakhali. It also includes Baridhara, a diplomatic enclave, giving the seat particular significance.
Before the 2008 election, these areas were part of the Dhaka-5 constituency. In the 1991, 1996 and 2001 elections, BNP candidate Kamrul Islam contested from the seat, winning in 2001 and later serving as a state minister.
