BNP halts nomination for Madaripur-1 amid protests
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has suspended the nomination for the Madaripur-1 constituency following intense protests by local party leaders and supporters.
BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi announced the suspension in a statement issued on Tuesday, November 4.
He confirmed that the party’s Secretary General, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, had formally declared Kamal Zaman Molla as the BNP candidate for Madaripur-1 during a press conference at the BNP Chairperson’s office in Gulshan on November 3.
However, “due to unavoidable circumstances,” both the nomination and the candidate’s name have now been put on hold.
The decision comes in the wake of violent demonstrations in Shibchar on Monday evening, when supporters of Sajjad Hossain Siddiqui Lavlu – a joint convener of the Madaripur district BNP unit – blocked the Dhaka-Bhanga Expressway in protest after Lavlu was denied the nomination.
Around 7:30 pm, protesters torched tyres at Panchchar in Shibchar Upazila, bringing traffic between Dhaka and 21 southern districts to a complete halt. Hundreds of vehicles, including passenger buses and cargo trucks, were stranded for several hours as demonstrators, many of them local youths, chanted slogans demanding Lavlu’s reinstatement as the official candidate.
Shibchar Highway Police Station Officer-in-Charge Zahurul Islam confirmed the blockade and said law enforcement had been deployed to restore order. “We are working to disperse the crowd and clear the road, but emotions are running high,” he stated.
Lavlu, a well-known grassroots leader in the area, had been widely expected to secure the nomination. His exclusion in favour of Kamal Zaman Molla sparked immediate backlash, revealing deep fractures within the party’s local leadership.
Political analysts warn that such internal discord—repeated in several constituencies—could undermine the BNP’s electoral cohesion ahead of the 13th National Parliamentary elections. The suspension of the Madaripur-1 nomination is seen as an attempt by the central leadership to defuse tensions and initiate dialogue with dissenting factions.
Traffic on the expressway remained partially disrupted late into the night, with authorities urging commuters to use alternate routes while negotiations with protest leaders continued.