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'BNP-may-win' hope spurs race for nomination

Shakhawat Liton and Mohammad Al-Masum Molla
The hope that the party may win the election if it is held in a free and fair manner has spurred a large number of BNP leaders to emerge as MP aspirants.
A senior leader close to BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman said the party had, on an average, about five aspirants in many of the constituencies across the country.
The picture is different in only a few constituencies where BNP bigwigs are likely to run, the leader said wishing anonymity.
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"Many leaders believe they will easily win the polls if they are nominated by the BNP," he said, referring to the 2001 polls, in which the party won a landslide victory with many newcomers winning seats in parliament.
"This has created enthusiasm among many to seek BNP nomination."
Although the party has not formally announced whether it will join the coming polls, BNP's recent activities suggest that it will definitely join.
The party has conducted three surveys in the last few months and prepared a list of prospective MP candidates, insiders said.
In a bid to take advantage of a provision in the Representation of People Order, the BNP primarily selected three candidates from each constituency.
Each of the three will be asked to file for contesting the polls. Of them, one will be finalised just before the deadline for withdrawing nomination papers, party insiders added.
The laws concerned allow a registered political party to nominate
more than one candidate for each constituency. Before the last date of withdrawing nomination papers, the party will have to write to the returning officer picking one of the three as its nominee. The rest of the nomination papers would automatically be considered invalid.
The BNP leaders think this option would benefit their party.
Even if one of the three gets disqualified during scrutiny, the remaining two will stay in the race. This strategy will also help the BNP contain dissident candidates, they said.
Those who will not get the final confirmation will not be able to contest the polls as independent, because of certain restrictions.
To contest the polls as an independent, one needs to submit signatures of one percent of the constituents.
"Only 100 leaders have been given indications that they will get party nominations. They were asked to begin working in their constituencies," Ruhul Quddus Talukdar Dulu, organising secretary of BNP, told The
Daily Star yesterday.
If the BNP joins the election, it will finalise the candidates soon and keep some seats for the leaders of Jatiya Oikyafront and partners in the BNP-led 20 party alliance, he said.
The situation is not the same in the ruling Awami League camp. AL leaders are publicly campaigning in their areas through placing posters, placards and billboards.
But the BNP leaders are obviously taking a different strategy. In many areas, MP aspirants are not being able to hold public meetings. They are providing financial assistance to different organisations in their areas as part their mass contact programme, said BNP insiders.
"I visited 80 Puja Mandap in the area and provided them financial assistance. I also distributed 1,000 saris among women in Hindu community," said Khondker Ahad Ahmed, senior vice president of Gaibandha BNP.
He added that was looking forward to be the party's nominee from Gaibandha-2 constituency and car-
ried out the mass contact programme in all 13 union parishads.
He has also come up with an 11-point goal to "make the city liveable” if he is elected.
Mamun Bin Abdul Mannan, an expatriate businessman, who seeks the BNP ticket from Mymensing-9, told The Daily Star, "1 donated money to at least 27 Puja Mandap and visited all of them."
Two other MP aspirants, including a former lawmaker, are working in the area for BNP ticket, he said.
BNP senior leaders believe that the party would not face internal conflicts centring over the nomination.
BNP Vice-Chairman Mohammad Shajahan told The Daily Star yesterday that having multiple hopefuls in the constituencies would not be a major problem.
"Our major concern is about the election atmosphere. Whether we can join the polls and our leaders and activists, many of whom are accused in cases, can take part actively in electioneering is our main concern."