NCP unveils nominees for 125 seats: Expatriates dominate Sylhet line-up
The NCP also finalised two more nominees in the Sylhet division: Joint Member-Secretary Pritam Das for Moulvibazar-4 and District Coordinator Nahid Uddin Tarek for Habiganj-4.
The National Citizen Party (NCP) has announced its primary list of nominees for 125 constituencies in the first phase ahead of the 13th national parliamentary election, including three seats in Sylhet district – all filled by expatriates.
NCP Member-Secretary Akhtar Hossain read out the candidate list at a press briefing at the party's temporary office in the capital's Banglamotor this morning (10 December).
In Sylhet-1, the party nominated Central Organising Secretary Ehtesham Haque, a UK expatriate who was previously active in British politics and contested the Poplar and Limehouse parliamentary seat last year. He returned to Bangladesh following the political change on 5 August and has since taken on organisational roles within the NCP.
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Sylhet-3 has been assigned to Barrister Nurul Huda Juned, also based in the UK and a member of the party's Convening Committee. He has been active in local politics for over a year and has maintained regular public engagement in the constituency.
In Sylhet-4, the NCP nominated US expatriate Md Rashel Ul Alam, an engineer and a newcomer to politics who recently returned to Bangladesh to begin campaigning.
Responding to discussions about the number of expatriate nominees, Ehtesham said, "I have been in the country for over a year, so it is not accurate to call me an expatriate. The same applies to Juned. And Rashel has only been in the United States for a short time – he has always remained connected to the country."
He added that Sylhet's large expatriate population makes such representation natural, saying, "It is not a disadvantage to have more expatriate candidates from this region; it offers an opportunity for expatriates to be represented in Parliament."
The NCP also finalised two additional nominations in the Sylhet division: Joint Member-Secretary Pritam Das for Moulvibazar-4 and District Coordinator Nahid Uddin Tarek for Habiganj-4.
Both are based in Bangladesh.
