Staff Reporter:
Ahead of the 12th national elections, the candidates of the BNP, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, and Jatiya Party are in a silent competition with the ruling Awami League in the Dinajpur-5 constituency (Phulbari-Parbatipur upazilas).
Current MP Mostafizur Rahman Fizar has received the party nomination for the next election. Several other leaders, including Safed Ashfaq Akand Tuhin, the central deputy international affairs secretary of the Awami Jubo League, also collected nomination forms.
A valiant Freedom Fighter, Fizar, 70, was elected a Member of Parliament from this seat seven consecutive times. He is the chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee of the Ministry of Primary and Public Education.
Moreover, the seat has a lot of importance due to geographical reasons.
One of the country’s largest railway junctions and a railway workshop are located in Parbatipur Upazila. It is also famous for various reasons, including the Barapukuria Coal Mine, thermal power plant, and Madhyapara Stone Quarry.
Phulbari Upazila has gained nationwide recognition for the 2006 movement against Asia Energy. Meanwhile, the BGB 29 Battalion Headquarters have been established in Phulbari. The importance of this populated upazila is also very high due to the existence of various institutions and factories.
The total number of voters in this constituency is 416,703 people. There are 271,243 voters in Parbatipur and 165,460 in Phulbari.
Former BNP lawmaker AZM Rezwanul Haque and MP aspirant Khurshid Alam Moti are in a silent role. Their candidature will depend on party decisions since the BNP has been waging street protests, demanding a neutral administration to oversee the polls.
They have not yet said anything clearly about the election when contacted. Sources said many of the leaders and activists of the BNP and Jamaat in this AL stronghold are absconding in various cases.
Jatiya Party has a lone candidate from this seat—Central Committee Member Solaiman Sami.
But Sami is sometimes silent and sometimes seen taking risks on the election field. He is one of the top leaders of the coal mine movement. He has been associated with the party for a long time and contested the 2018 election.
Jamaat’s candidate is Maulana Anwar Hossain, a madrasa teacher. He has been seen on the field communicating with voters. On the other hand, Maulana Matiar Rahman is seeking nomination from Islami Andolan Bangladesh.
