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ELECTIONS TO JS RESERVED SEATS

Even ministers, their kin vie for BNP ticket

Each woman MP to donate Tk 3 lakh to party funds; 183 application forms sold on first day

STAFF CORRESPONDENT
Aspirant BNP candidates in the September 6 elections to the women's reserved seats in parliament thronged the ruling party headquarters in the city yesterday to collect application forms for party nomination.
Besides Prime Minister's Primary
and Mass Education Affairs Adviser Zahanara Begum and technocrat State Minister for Cultural Affairs Selima Rahman, many a wife, sister, relative and protege of BNP ministers and senior leaders was among the ticket seekers.
Total 183 forms were sold yesterday, with Zahanara grabbing the first at 10am, while seven filled up forms
were submitted. The application form distribution and submission process will continue until August 18 and BNP parliamentary board will interview the applicants on August 23.
The party coffers would be swelled by at least Tk 1.5 crore as proceeds from the nomination FROM PAGE 1
process for the 30 reserved seats the ruling 4-party coalition has allocated to the BNP. There are a total of 45 seats reserved for women in the Jatiya Sangsad (JS).
Every application form costs Tk 5,000 to collect and another Tk 25,000 to submit. And each of the lucky-30 ticket awardees will have to donate Tk 3 lakh to the party funds as per a promise the aspiring election candidates have to make in black and white while drawing the application forms from the Nayapaltan central office.
The office has been teeming from morning to noon with ticket seekers and their companions raising slogans, vocalising a wide range of merits, worth and compatibility of their candidates of choice. In what appeared like an immature beginning of election campaign, some of the supporters were handing out resumes and portraits to journalists. Some of the aspirant applicants even vied with each other to inform reporters about themselves.
Supporters of various applicants even have put up posters on the walls of the party office demanding nomination of their leaders.
Exasperated by the persistent crowding and din, at 12:20pm BNP Assistant Office Secretary Syed Emran Saleh Prince asked those who already had collected forms to leave the venue. "Please leave the office...
You see there is no space to stand for those who are coming to collect forms," he shouted at the milling crowd.
The aspirant polls contestants admitted that they have been lobbying party high ups to get their blessings and party nomination since the women's quota was reintroduced last year. And, as usual, every one of them was sure that her past deeds and contributions to the party would impress the party parliamentary board into picking her as a candidate.
"I've met a number of party policymakers including the ministers from Chittagong seeking their blessings for winning the polls," Nuri Ara Safa, president of Jatiyatabadi Mohila Dal, Chittagong north district unit, told The Daily Star after collecting an application form.
She said late president Ziaur Rahman knew her very well and she visited several countries with him.
BNP Dhaka city unit leader
Ekhlasuddin Mollah and four Dhaka City Corporation ward commissioners accompanied Kazi Shammi Sher to the office, clearly expressing their support for her.
Firoza Talukdar, sister of late Abdus Slam Talukdar, who once was BNP secretary general, said, "All the standing committee members have already blessed me," while former state minister and BNP vice president Sarwari Rahman asserted she was well known to all the senior party leaders.
"The prime minister and the policymakers of the party know I am going to seek nomination for the election," State Minister for Cultural Affairs Selima Rahman told The Daily Star. She wants to be a member of parliament, as it is the basic foundation to build a national political career, she explained her move.
Rina Parvin from Panchagar said she has met the Speaker: "My father was a friend of Speaker Jamiruddin Sircar. I'll go to him again when I fill up the application form."
Ishrat Mirja Khushi, sister of Housing Minister Mirza Abbas, said her brother asked her to collect an application form and told her he will look after the matter.
Former lawmaker Prof Fazilatunnesa from Patuakhali, however, said the party chairperson will decide the fate of the applicants.
Sabina Yasmin Chowdhury Bina, an advocate, said she hopes to get the party ticket as she has been playing a 'significant' role in organising the movement of pro-BNP lawyers.
A large number of former Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal women leaders also came to collect application forms.
Besides Zahanara Begum and Selima Rahman, BNP Vice President Rabeya Chowdhury and Women Affairs Secretary Khaja Ahsanullah were among the top BNP leaders who got the forms.
Other prominent aspirants include Rabeya Siraj, wife of Jute and Textiles Minister Shajahan Siraj, Najmun Nahar Baby, wife of Education State Minister Ehsanul Haque Milon, Rokeya Ahmed Lucky, widow of BNP lawmaker Shamsuddin Ahmed Ishak, Shirin Sultana, wife of BNP lawmaker Khairul Kabir Khokon, and Mina Khan, widow of former state minister late principal Younus Khan.