The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has announced the names of 237 prospective candidates out of 300 constituencies for the upcoming 13th National Parliamentary Election.BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir unveiled the list at a press conference held on Monday (November 3) at the party chairperson’s office in Gulshan. However, several senior leaders of the party were notably absent from the announced list.According to the published list, BNP Standing Committee members Nazrul Islam Khan and Begum Selima Rahman, Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, Joint Secretary General Habib-un-Nabi Sohel, and recently appointed Joint Secretary General Humayun Kabir have not been nominated.

In addition, BNP Chairperson’s Advisers Abdus Salam, Moazzem Hossain Alal, Aminur Rashid Yasin, and Vice Chairman Asaduzzaman Ripon have also been excluded. Former reserved-seat MP for women and prominent BNP leader Rumeein Farhana, who had been widely discussed as a potential nominee, is also missing from the list.

BNP’s International Affairs Secretary Nasir Uddin Aseem and Rabiul Islam Robi — who previously contested in Dhaka-10 constituency — were also dropped this time. Similarly, Dhaka South Jubo Dal’s Member Secretary Rabiul Islam Nayan, who was seeking nomination from a Magura constituency, has not been included.

Party sources said that BNP followed a policy of not nominating more than one member from the same family. As a result, the wives of several senior leaders — including Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed’s wife Hasina Ahmed, Mirza Abbas’s wife Afroza Abbas, and former MP Rumana Mahmood, wife of Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku — have been left out.

Meanwhile, in constituencies where senior BNP leaders have passed away, their family members have been nominated as party candidates, according to the sources.