BD Correspondent: Followers of a number of ruling Awami League leaders who failed to get party nomination staged demonstration at various places across the country on Tuesday.

Supporters of leaders denied of nomination staged demonstration by bringing out processions, holding rallies and even blocking roads demanding party ticket for their candidates as has been going on in the last two days.
The demonstrators had alleged that the party had chosen other candidates for party ticket without realizing the ‘ground reality’ and it might affect the election result.

The news of demonstrations are reported while Awami League is yet to reach consensus with its grand alliance partners about seat sharing for which it did not announce the candidature for all the 300 constituencies, which was scheduled for Monday.

Party insiders said AL was in pressure from inside the party and from the grand alliance partners over awarding of candidature.

Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader, in the past few days, had been warning the party leaders that if they chose to become rebel candidates after failing to get party ticket, they would be expelled from the party for life.

Awami League has so far handed over party ticket against 231 seats while the remaining ones were kept for the alliance partners, he said on Monday.
He also said that there might be changes in party candidature but it would only be finalised at a later date.

Quader, also the road transport and bridges minster, said that Awami League was a giant party and that they had taken serious measures to reduce party’s internal feuds ahead of the general election.

He acknowledged that a few intra-party protests were held in a number of constituencies across the country.

The party had sold nomination forms to over 4,000 aspirants against 300 seats to vie in the upcoming national elections scheduled for December 30.
Besides, followers of a leader of Jatiya Party, a partner of Awami League-led grand alliance, in Brahmanbaria staged demonstration demanding nomination of their leader.

Our correspondent in Feni reported that leaders and activists of local Awami League staged demonstration demanding nomination of AL leader Alauddin Nasim for Feni-1 constituency and protesting against nomination of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal general secretary Shirin Akhter.

The protesters demonstrated by blocking the Feni-Parashuram road at Phulgazi bazaar point for three hours until 2:00pm by felling tree logs, burning tyres and carrying brooms, Phulgazi upazila chairman and upazila AL general secretary Abdul Alim said.

The protesters announced Shirin ‘persona non grata’ and warned that the AL activists will not work for Shirin and demanded that her nomination be cancelled.

Our Islamic University correspondent reported that local leaders and activists of Awami League at Meherpur-1 constituency protested against nomination of Farhad Hossain Dodul terming that Farhad had no connection with the local leaders and activists.

They brought out a procession led by Meherpur town Awami Mahila League organising secretary Safura Khatun and former district Juba League president Abu Saleh Uddin Biswas in the district town around noon and chanted slogans against Farhad.

In Brahamanbaria, thousands of supporters of Jatiya Party’s incumbent lawmaker Ziaul Haque Mridha blocked Dhaka-Sylhet highway for over an hour at Sarail intersection and demonstrated there by setting fire to tyres at noon for not choosing their leader from Brahmanbaria-2 constituency.
JP picked Jesmin Noor for the constituency after dropping the name of Mridha.

On Monday afternoon, followers of incumbent Awami League lawmaker from Narsingdi-3, Sirajul Islam Molla, staged demonstration at Shibpur upazila town protesting against giving AL nomination to former AL lawmaker Zahirul Huq Bhuiyan from the same constituency.

The followers of Keraniganj upazila chairman Shahin Ahmed on Monday afternoon blocked Dhaka-Nababganj road at Konakhola area demanding Shahin’s nomination for Dhaka-2, and scrapping of the nomination of food minister Kamrul Islam from the constituency.

In Sylhet, leaders and activists of Bishwanath upazila AL blocked the road at Rashidpur of Dakkkhin Surama on Monday morning demanding nomination of an AL leader for Sylhet-2 constituency as no name of AL candidate was declared for the constituency and as a JP candidate might be nominated from AL-led grand alliance.

In Kushtia, a group of leaders and activists of Awami League, also the supporters of Afaz Uddin, former MP of Daulatpur (Kushtia-1), staged demonstration on Kushtia-Pragpur Highway demanding nomination for Afaz on Monday, Our Islamic University correspondent reported.

Thousands of supporters took position on the road and protested against the awarding of nomination to Sarwar Jahan Badshah. Later, they staged a protest rally and demanded nomination for Afaz after cancelling Sarwar’s nomination.

Police fired three gunshots in the air to keep the situation under control, said Nazrul Islam, officer-in-charge of Daulatpur Police Station.