On the fourth day for collecting BNP nomination forms for the upcoming polls, the aspirants made their way to the party headquarters in Naya Paltan among much fanfare and festivities on Thursday (Nov 15).
However, there was considerable tension amongst the party activists given the clash that took place with the police the previous day. The law enforcers were also seen standing at a safe distance from the party offices.
Although not many aspirants showed up in the morning, leaders flanked by their supporters from various districts started to flock the party headquarters since 12 pm.
Aspirants as well as activists of BNP’s front organizations, including the student affiliate Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal led rallies from the Nightingale intersection at Kakrail to Naya Paltan.
The activists were also seen voluntarily keeping a part of the road empty, easing the traffic that otherwise takes a horrid turn during the collection of nomination forms and was the supposed cause of Wednesday’s clash.
The activists raised slogans during the rallies demanding party chief Khaleda Zia’s release.
“We are being able to lead a campaign without police interference after a long time,” said Wares Ali Mamun, who seeks the party’s ticket from Jamalpur-5 constituency.
“We hope we will be allowed to continue our campaigns like this until the polls,” he added saying, “We will support whoever the party nominates.”
BNP’s Jashore unit Joint General Secretary Mizanur Rahman Khan also went to collect a form for the Jessore-2 constituency.
Sumon Mollah, who hails from Jashore, said that BNP will definitely win in Jashore if the election is fair.
Like Sumon, many other party leaders hope that Jatiya Oikya Front will win the race if the polls are fair. Moreover, they believe that Khaleda’s release will boost the party spirit and give the government less chance of any skullduggery.
BNP started the sale of nomination forms from Nov 12 and in three days, almost 4,000 aspirants have collected forms.
Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir officially inaugurated the nomination form sale, which ends on Friday (Nov 16), by collecting three forms on behalf of Chairperson Khaleda Zia.