Failure to Get Party Tickets: Agitation, road blocks continue
Aggrieved supporters of some leaders, who were not nominated by their parties, demonstrated blocking roads in several districts yesterday.
They also threatened to continue the agitation if the parties did not change the decisions.
On Monday, followers of several Awami League leaders who did not get party tickets staged similar demonstration in at least seven districts.
In Brahmanbaria, hundreds of Jatiya Party men blocked the Dhaka-Sylhet highway near Sarail Bishwa Road intersection around 11:15am yesterday and set tyres on fire.
The protesters, followers of incumbent JP lawmaker in Brahmanbaria-2 Ziaul Haque Mridha, chanted slogans against Jesmin Noor, the central committee leader nominated by the party to contest the December 30 polls.
They claimed Jesmin had no communication with the grassroots leaders and she would surely be defeated.
Around 12:30pm, Mridha went to the spot and requested the protesters to leave, who then complied.
Before leaving, Mridha, a vice president of the JP central committee, announced that the protest would continue if he was not nominated.
The demonstration, which continued for around one hour, created a long tailback on the highway.
Despite repeated attempts, Jesmin could not be reached for comments.
In Narsingdi, hundreds of supporters of AL leader AH Ohidul Haque Aslam Sunny blocked the Dhaka-Sylhet highway for nearly three hours since 9:00am, demanding party ticket for him.
The ruling party has given the ticket for Narsingdi-4 to Nurul Majid Ahmed Humayun.
The demonstration in Baroicha Bus Stand area led to a four kilometre gridlock, said Zaved Mahmud, officer-in-charge of Belabo Police Station.
There was no untoward incident, he said.
In Feni, supporters of Alauddin Ahmed Chowdhury Nasim, former protocol officer of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, staged demonstrations and put up barricades on the Feni-Poshuram road, demanding that he be nominated for Feni-1.
The protesters fell trees on the road during their around two-hour demonstration from 9:00am, bringing traffic movement to a halt.
The AL was yet to finalise its nomination for the parliamentary seat. However, AL ally Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) has fielded its General Secretary Shirin Akhter there.
In Gaibandha, BNP men staged agitation in front of the party's district office. They poured onto the road around noon hearing that the party had nominated Abdur Rashid Sarker, district president of Jatiya Party, for Gaibandha-2.
Terming Sarker an outsider, the agitators gave an ultimatum to the party high-ups to revoke the decision and nominate BNP leader Khandker Ahad Ahmed for the seat.
They also threatened a mass resignation if the demand was not met.
Those who spoke at yesterday's programme include district unit BNP former general secretary Kamrul Hasan Salim and former vice president Alamgir Sadullah Dudu.
The Daily Star could not confirm whether or not the JP leader got the BNP nomination.
In Rajshahi, a human chain planned by supporters of Rajshahi-5 lawmaker Kazi Abdul Wadud Dara had to be cancelled upon police request.
This time, the ruling party has nominated Rajshahi Medical College's former forensic expert Dr Mansur Rahman for the constituency. The programme was organised to press for Dara's nomination.
“We took preparation to hold a human chain on the Dhaka-Rajshahi highway near Biraldaha shrine at Puthia upazila around 3.30pm. But we had to cancel the programme,” said Dara's uncle Md Ali-uz-Zaman.
Contacted, Superintendent of police in Rajshahi Md Shahidullah said they had made the request to avoid any untoward situation.
Our correspondents in the districts contributed to the report
[Correction: A report, headlined 'Venting outrage on the streets' published in The Daily Star on Tuesday, mistakenly mentioned that supporters of Awami League lawmaker Rezaul Karim Hira blocked roads at Jamalpur demanding party's nomination for him. They were actually supporters of another AL leader Rezaul Karim Reznu.]
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