Ahead of the 13th National Parliamentary Election, Gono Forum has announced a list of 133 provisional candidates.
The announcement was made on Saturday by the party’s acting president, Advocate Subrata Chowdhury, at a press conference held at the Abdus Salam Hall of the National Press Club.
At the press conference Subrata Chowdhury said he will stand as the party’s candidate for Dhaka-6. He added that the party general secretary, Dr Md Mizanur Rahman, will stand from Magura-1.
He also named several other senior party figures as candidates: Advocate SM Altaf Hossain (Dhaka-5), Advocate AKM Jaglul Haider Afrik (Narsingdi-3), Mostak Ahmed (Comilla-3), Advocate Salim Akbar (Chandpur-3), Advocate Suraiya Begum (Barguna-2), Advocate Ansar Khan (Sylhet-1), Abdul Hasib Chowdhury (Habiganj-3), Shree Ratan Banerjee (Chittagong-5), Advocate Abdul Hafiz (Jhenaidah-2), Advocate Hiron Kumar Das (Barisal-6) and Golam Hossain Abab (Sunamganj-3).
From the advisory council, Advocate AHM Khalequzzaman will stand from Mymensingh-8 and Advocate Shantipada Ghosh from Moulvibazar-1.
Subrata Chowdhury announced the preliminary candidate lists for 133 constituencies across the country.
After the announcement, he said: “We have published the names of our 133 candidates today. We will release the remaining names at a later stage. Those not listed today will get opportunities in subsequent phases. This is a partial list — a preliminary list. Many may be dropped from this list and many new names may be added.”
Before announcing the candidates, Subrata Chowdhury said that when the July Charter was issued on the 17th, many parties signed it while a few did not. Among them is also a new party that now claims to be the vanguard of the July Charter.
“You have seen that the unity which formed around the July movement and earlier has now, at this stage, led some parties to present fresh demands to the government,” he said.
“They have even said that unless there is a PR system, there can be no election in Bangladesh. Secondly, they say that if there is no referendum before the election, then there will be no chance of an election in February. They are saying elections will be in 2029,” he added.
“They continue to make such statements. Even after the speech by the chief adviser, they say there will be another sit-in at the State Guest House Jamuna next Monday. That shows some political parties are still seeking to prevent the election from taking place at the announced time,” he further added.
On the question of a referendum, Subrata Chowdhury said there is controversy over the four points that have been proposed. “We also have issues — these points have not been properly recorded.”
He added: “There are linguistic concerns. Our ordinary people will vote based on the symbols. To say yes-or-no on these four items is very difficult. You might say yes to three and no to two. How will that be reconciled? There is a trick here.”
He further added: “They have packaged the four constitutional issues and want you to say yes in advance. They leave no room for you to say no on an individual item — if you say no to one, you must say no to the whole package. That is why this controversy remains and will continue.”
“We are saying that if such a matter is given as a package, our ordinary people — given their situation — will find it difficult to understand every word of each issue,” he concluded.
