Adviser Asif Mahmud set to register as voter in Dhaka-10, shifting from Cumilla amid seat-sharing talks

Amid ongoing discussions over seat-sharing ahead of the upcoming national election, Local Government Adviser Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuyain is set to become a voter in the Dhaka-10 constituency.

The former coordinator of the Students Against Discrimination movement will submit his application to register as a voter at the Dhanmondi thana election office today (9 November), confirmed Md Salauddin, public relations officer of the Ministry of Local Government Rural Development and Co-operatives.

Asif is a registered voter in the Cumilla-3 constituency, which includes Muradnagar upazila, and the last day to change voters' location is tomorrow (10 November).

A candidate can register as a voter in any constituency and contest from there. However, they can cast their vote only in the area of their current registered address.

In this case, if the adviser transfers his voter registration to Dhaka, he will have to cast his vote in that constituency.

According to a message from the ministry's public relations office issued this morning, Asif will be present at the election office at 3pm to complete the process of changing his location.

The Dhaka-10 constituency comprises Dhanmondi, New Market, Kalabagan, and Hazaribagh police station areas.

While the BNP has yet to announce its candidate for this seat, the Jamaat-e-Islami has already nominated Supreme Court lawyer Jasim Uddin Sarkar for it.

There had been speculation that he might contest from Cumilla-3. However, recent political buzz suggests that if a seat-sharing deal with the BNP is finalised, Asif may resign from his government post to contest from Dhaka-10.

The BNP's delay in nominating a candidate has further fuelled that speculation, and his move to become a voter in this constituency has intensified those discussions.

Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuyain was one of the prominent coordinators of the Students Against Discrimination, the platform that led the July Uprising.

He was known for announcing the "complete shutdown" programme during the movement and for bringing forward the final protest date from 6 August to 5 August through a Facebook post, a move that became a turning point in the uprising.

Following the fall of the Sheikh Hasina regime, he was appointed as an adviser in the interim administration formed on 8 August last year.

A native of Cumilla, Asif enrolled in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Dhaka in the 2017–18 academic year and completed his undergraduate studies there.

From early on, he was involved in student politics through the Students' Rights Council (Chhatra Adhikar Parishad) and actively participated in anti-repression campaigns on campus.

In 2023, he played a leading role in forming Democratic Students' Power (Ganatantrik Chhatra Shakti), a new student organisation launched by a faction of the council, and served as its convener at Dhaka University. Many of the front-line leaders of the July uprising emerged from this group.

Alongside his role at the local government ministry, Asif also serves as the adviser for the Ministry of Youth and Sports. In addition to his government duties, he is pursuing a master's degree in policy and governance at North South University.