Jamaat names candidates in 9 Kushtia, Rajshahi constituencies for 13th national polls

Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami has announced candidates in nine constituencies of Kushtia and Rajshahi for the 13th national elections.

The party made the announcement for Kushtia by posting the names and photos of the candidates on the Facebook page of its Kushtia district unit last night (9 February).

According to the post, Mawlana Belal Uddin, ameer of Jamaat's Daulatpur upazila unit, is the Kushtia-1 (Daulatput) candidate; Md Abdul Gafur, nayeb-e-ameer of Kushtia district unit and former Mirpur upazila chairman, the Kushtia-2 (Bheramara-Mirpur) candidate; Prof Forhad Hussain, member of the central majlish-e-shura, is the Kushtia-3 (Sadar) candidate; and Md Afzal Hossain, nayeb-e-ameer of the Kumarkhali upazila unit and former Kumarkhali upazila vice chairman, is the Kushtia-4 (Kumarkhali-Khoksa) candidate.

Confirming the development, Jamaat's Kushtia district unit Ameer Abul Hashem told The Business Standard over the phone that they chose the four candidates in advance so that they can easily prepare ahead of time and carry out campaign activities.

The Jamaat nayeb-e-ameer said the candidates would be changed if needed, he added.

Responding to a question, Hashem said, "There was no democracy in the country for a long time. Now there is an interim government. The elections that were held under such governments in the past had been fairer than those held under partisan control."

"We hope that the next election will also be fair. That's why we have started to prepare in advance," he said.

Meanwhile, the party announced the names of candidates for five of the six constituencies in Rajshahi yesterday.

Jamaat-e-Islami's Rajshahi Metropolitan Publicity and Media Secretary Ashraful Alam Emon confirmed the matter to The Business Standard.

The candidates are: Mujibur Rahman for Rajshahi-1 (Tanore-Godagari), Abul Kalam Azad for Rajshahi-3 (Poba-Mohanpur), Abdul Bari Sardar for Rajshahi-4 (Bagmara), Nuruzzaman Liton for Rajshahi-5 (Puthia-Durgapur) and Nazmul Haque for Rajshahi-6 (Bagha-Charghat).

The interim government came to power in August last year after a mass uprising led by students ousted the Awami League government.

The current government, led by Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus, is currently carrying out numerous reform activities.

The Electoral Reform Commission recently submitted its recommendations to the government and they are yet to be implemented. The commission has proposed over 200 recommendations, prioritising 16 key areas, to improve various aspects of the country's election process.

Back in December, Chief Adviser Yunus said the next general election can be held between the end of 2025 and the first half of 2026 after accomplishing necessary state reforms and a commission will be formed soon to build a national consensus, engaging with political parties.