The ruling party Awami League will give the country a surprise in nominations by excluding heavyweight candidates for the upcoming 12th National Parliamentary election on January 7.

Awami League will nominate someone who is not popular in his area, unable to maintain popularity despite being an MP-minister, and physically ill. Prime Minister and Awami League President Sheikh Hasina wants to come back to power with a candidate who has a clean image, is popular with the people and is well-known in the area.

The leaders of the party said that even after being excluded, many times the excluded person is nominated again, and Awami League has a precedent of excluding the announced candidate. That is why strict secrecy is being kept this time.

Awami League will publish the final list on Sunday. Rangpur, Rajshahi division candidates were finalized on Thursday. General Secretary of the party, Minister of Road Transport and Bridges Obaidul Quader informed about the finalization of candidates for four more divisions on Friday.

In a briefing at the Awami League president's Dhanmondi office on Friday, Quader said that nominations for four more divisions have been finalized. Many new candidates have been selected, and some have dropped out. We have not excluded winnable candidates. It applies to nominations of all candidates, men and women, who are not winnable-electable, and have lost acceptance with the people were dropped out.

Obaidul Quader said that due to strategic reasons, the nominations of some categories are not being published anymore, and the list of candidates for 300 seats will be published together. Wait for two more days.

Two influential members of Awami League's nomination board told Bangladesh Pratidin on condition of anonymity, “Candidates for six of the country's eight divisions have been finalized. Many heavyweight ministers-MPs and leaders in the current cabinet and parliament have been dropped from nominations. There are many complaints against them including physical illness.” They did not want to reveal the names of those who were excluded.

In the meeting of Awami League's executive parliament and parliamentary party, party leader Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina repeatedly said, “I will give the boat symbol after seeing the survey. Not by anyone's face.” That's why every six months he conducted surveys with different organizations and his own people. Sheikh Hasina will give the boat symbol to those who are ahead in that survey.

Policymakers of the party said that the latest survey also revealed negative information about many heavyweight MP ministers. Corruption, nepotism against them, patronage of party dissidents in local government elections, lack of communication with voters taking a stand for one's own group and ignoring party leaders are the main reasons why they are controversial.

Apart from this, there are allegations of APS-relatives establishing authority in the area while the MP staying in Dhaka. Among the eight divisions, MPs from Chattogram, Barisal and the northern area MPs have lost party favour more than any other region.

Several leaders of the party said that many MPs of the party have forgotten about party discipline due to being in power for the third consecutive term. Many of them have shown arrogance at the local level. They did not go to the area even as MP ministers, did not stand by the people of the area during natural disasters including the Covid pandemic, created internal conflict, and created the MP League, Brother League by excluding party leaders and workers. They have been excluded from party nomination this time.

Sheikh Hasina will sit with Awami League nominees: Awami League is going to hold an exchange meeting with the candidates for the 12th National Parliament election. The meeting will be held on Sunday at 10 am at Ganabhaban.

In a press release signed by Awami League office secretary Barrister Biplab Barua on Friday, the meeting will be presided over by Bangladesh Awami League president and head of the parliamentary nomination board.

In the meeting, Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader, all members of the party's National Election Steering Committee formed on the occasion of the 12th National Assembly Elections and all candidates for party nominations (including photocopies of national identity cards, received copies of nomination papers, photocopies of online forms where applicable) have been called to attend on time.

​(The report was published on print and online versions of The Bangladesh Pratidin on November 25 and rewritten in English by Tanvir Raihan)