AL announces 122 Upazila chairman candidates

Dhaka, Feb 10 – The ruling Awami League on Monday announced names of its 122 chairman candidates to contest the upcoming second phase of Upazila Parishad (UZ) elections scheduled to be held on March 18.
Elections to 129 Upazila Parishads will be held in the second phase.
AL general secretary, Obaidul Quader, announced the names of party candidates at a press conference at Sheikh Hasina’s Dhanmondi political office in the city. The names of the candidates in the remaining seven Uupazilas for the second phase will be announced later, he said.
“The members of AL local government nomination board unanimously finalized the names of the 122 chairman candidates for the second phase of theUpazilaa parishad polls. We finalized our party candidates based on grassroots and survey reports,” he said.
Replying to a question over the allegation of nominating relatives of war criminals as party candidates, the AL general secretary said, “We will investigate further in this regard, if we get such allegation against our selective candidate, his/her candidacy will be rejected.”
He said the party had chosen candidates only for the post of Upazila Chairman. The vice-chairman’s posts will be open for all. The names of the candidates for the third and fourth phases will be announced on February 22 and February 23 respectively, he added.
Replying to a question over upcoming Dhaka North City Corporation elections, Quader said they want a competitive election. But if a certain political party candidate withdraws his candidature they have nothing to do in that case, he said.
“We are very much optimistic about our party candidate’s victory in the DNCC polls,” he said. Elections to DNCC by-polls will be held on February 28.
Earlier on Saturday, AL announced names of the party’s chairman contenders for the first phase of upazila parishad elections in 87 upazilas scheduled to be held on March 10.
The last date of submitting nomination papers for the first phase of UZ polls is February 11 and that of withdrawal February 19.
The Election Commission had earlier said the fifth Upazila Parishad elections will be held in five phases from March 10. The first upazila parishad election was held in 1985, while the following three were held in 1990, 2009 and 2014. The last one was organised in six phases.
The first phase of the local body polls will be held in all upazilas of Panchagarh, Kurigram, Nilphamari, Lalmonirhat and Rangpur in Rangpur division, all upazilas in Jamalpur and all upazilas in Netrakona, except Atpara in Mymensingh division, all upazilas in Sunamganj, except Jagannathpur and all upazilas in Habiganj, except Shayestaganj, in Sylhet division, and all upazilas in Sirajganj, Joypurhat, Natore and Rajshahi in Rajshahi division.
In the second phase, the local government elections will be held in all the upazilas under Thakurgaon, Rangpur, Gaibandha, Dinajpur, Bogura, Naogaon, Pabna, Sylhet, Moulvibazar, Gopalganj, Faridpur, Rangamati, Bandarban, Khagrachhari districts, seven upazilas under Chattogram district, Hatiya upazila of Noakhali and Chakria upazila of Cox’s Bazar. – Staff Reporter