AL MPs, ministers can’t run for upazila polls: Sheikh Hasina

Prime Minister and Awami League President Sheikh Hasina has given strict instructions that close relatives and family members of the ruling party MPs and ministers cannot contest the upcoming upazila parishad elections.

The party chief has also ordered organisational measures against anyone disobeying the instruction, AL General Secretary Obaidul Quader said today (18 April).

Confirming the matter, AL Organising Secretary SM Kamal Hossain, told TBS that Quader, on behalf of Sheikh Hasina, issued the directives at an unscheduled meeting with the party's divisional leaders.

Party sources said the Awami League has decided not to nominate candidates for the upazila parishad elections, aiming to ensure fairness and competitiveness. The party has stressed the importance of maintaining a positive election atmosphere from the outset.

However, influential party leaders and local MPs and ministers are supporting their relatives as candidates, disrupting the party's grassroots structure and leading to conflicts within the organisation, sometimes leading to violence, they said.  

In response,AL President Sheikh Hasina has issued the instructions addressing the issue, sources added.

At the meeting, Quader said a list of MPs and ministers who are interfering in the elections and nominating relatives will be made. 

Some leaders, including praesidium members Abdur Razzaque and Shahjahan Khan, were warned against such interference. 

The party's organising secretaries have been instructed to address this issue.

AL organising secretaries BM Mozammel Huq, Mirza Azam and Afzal Hossain; Office Secretary Biplab Barua; Deputy Office Secretary Sayem Khan among others were present at the meeting.

The Election Commission has announced that upazila parishad elections will be held in four phases – the first phase on 8 May, the second on 21 May, and third on 29 May and the fourth phase in June.