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The Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s primary selection of candidates for 237constituencies in the 13th Jatiya Sangsad elections has sparked controversies in places, raising questions about their dedication and contributions to the party’s organisational activities.   

Allegations against particular candidates included prolonged absence in politics and affiliation with the ousted Awami League.

Against some of the nominees, BNP activists at the grassroots level staged street protests, some of which went violent in several districts immediately after the party on November 3 announced its list of potential candidates for the polls,  planned for February 2026.

BNP standing committee member Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku acknowledged the ongoing controversies surrounding a number of the party’s nominations.

Speaking to ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· on Friday, Iqbal Hasan described the disputes as a ‘natural occurrence’ in a large party that had faced suppression for more than a decade during the Awami League regime.

 ‘If required, these nominations can be changed,’ he said, indicating the BNP’s willingness to address internal problems.

Some local leaders and activists in Chattogram’s Patia upazila alleged that the BNP had favoured individuals close to the controversial business conglomerate S Alam Group.

Among them, Enamul Haque has been primarily nominated for the Chattogram-12 constituency.

Liberal Democratic Party president Oli Ahmed, a retired army colonel, recently said that people loyal to the ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina were still active in politics with the blessings from S Alam group.

Talking to ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· on Saturday, Enamul complained that his political rivals, ‘who were not active in local politics for long’, launched a smear campaign against him. ‘S Alam and I belong to the same Patia area. But I don’t maintain any link to him,’ Enamul said.  

The BNP chose Shamsuzzaman Samu for the Rangpur-3 seat. Nomination aspirant Rita Rahman without naming Shamsuzzaman recently alleged that she could not accept the nomination of someone widely known in the Rangpur city as an ‘extortionist’.

Shamsuzzaman did not respond to phone calls and text messages from ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· on Saturday and Sunday.

The BNP primarily nominated Amirul Islam Khan Alim for the Sirajganj-5 constituency.

Nabinagar businessman Shafiqul Islam at a Thursday press conference accused Amirul of embezzling money through fraud.

The victim said that he had lodged a CR (criminal register) case with the Dhaka Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Court and also submitted a complaint to the BNP’s acting chair.

Amirul did not respond to phone calls and text messages from ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· on Saturday and Sunday.  

Amid allegations of being affiliated with the ousted Awami League, the BNP postponed the primary nomination of Kamal Zaman Molla for the Madaripur-1 constituency.

On November 4, BNP media cell verified Facebook page posted a press release signed by party senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi. The release said that the postponement of Kamal’s nomination was issued due to unavoidable reasons.

For the Chattogram-4 constituency, the BNP primarily nominated Kazi Salahuddin.

Protesting against the nomination, supporters of another BNP leader Aslam Chowdhury claimed that Aslam was a more competent candidate than Salahuddin.

While talking to ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· on Saturday, Salahuddin said that he was not prepared for contesting the JS elections.

However, he observed that Aslam might have been excluded as he had been maintaining a distance from the high command after his release from jail recently.

‘The BNP high command has chosen me after monitoring my regular involvement with party activities. Hopefully, I can continue my election campaign with the blessings from all BNP leaders, including Aslam,’ Salahuddin said. 

The BNP primarily nominated Nitai Roy Chowdhury for Magura-2 and Ikramul Bari Tipu for Naogaon-4. Other aspiring candidates and their supporters, kicking demonstrations off against the nominations, claimed that the nominated candidates were ‘unfit’.

¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· reported that supporters of BNP-nominated candidate Nitai Roy Chowdhury and deprived aspirant Kazi Salimul Haque Kamal locked in a series of clashes in Mohammadpur of Magura, leaving several activists from both sides injured.

In Naogaon, supporters of BNP Manda upazila unit president MA Matin Tyagi blocked the Naogaon-Rajshahi highway and staged a protest on November 4, demanding his nomination for Naogaon-4, ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· reported.  

Over a dozen senior leaders, including BNP standing committee members Nazrul Islam Khan, Selima Rahman, central leaders Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, Moazzam Hossain Alal, Asaduzzaman Ripon, Shamsuzzaman Dudu, Habib-un-Nabi Khan Sohel, Sultan Salauddin Tuku, and Rumeen Farhana, have not been included in the primary list.

BNP standing committee member Tuku said that any modifications in the primary list of candidates would be contingent on the official announcement of the 13th JS elections schedule.

‘We will maintain the current positions until the schedule is announced to see how long these controversies can be tolerated,’ he explained.