Khaleda Zia, another BNP leader file nominations for same seat

Nomination papers have been collected and submitted on behalf of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia for the Dinajpur-3 (Sadar) constituency in the 13th Jatiya Sangsad election.

Earlier in the day, BNP leader Syed Jahangir Alam also collected a nomination form for the same seat, triggering uncertainty among local party leaders over the party’s final candidate.

Jahangir Alam is the BNP’s Rangpur divisional co-assistant organising secretary and a former three-time mayor of Dinajpur municipality. He collected the nomination form around 1:45pm from the office of the Dinajpur district returning officer, receiving it from Additional Deputy Commissioner Nur-e-Alam Siddiqui. Several district BNP leaders were present at the time.

District BNP President Mofazzal Hossain Dulal said the party had received no instruction from the central leadership not to submit nomination papers on behalf of Khaleda Zia. “If anyone else had been nominated, we would have been informed. We firmly believe Khaleda Zia is the BNP candidate for Dinajpur-3,” he said.

Jahangir Alam, however, told reporters he collected the form following instructions from the party high command. He said the nomination papers on behalf of Khaleda Zia would be submitted later in the day. Asked why he collected nomination papers for the party chairperson’s seat, he said he could not comment beyond the central directive.

Khaleda Zia is set to contest from Dinajpur-3 for the first time. The seat was previously won by her late sister Khurshid Jahan Haque in the 1996 and 2001 parliamentary elections as a BNP candidate.