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The Awami League has chosen Mohammad Ali Arafat, a member of its Central Working Committee, as the ruling party’s candidate for Dhaka-17 parliamentary constituency.
General Secretary Obaidul Quader confirmed the decision after a meeting of the party’s nomination board on Friday night.
The seat is going to the by-election after the death of actor and politician Akbar Hossain Pathan Farooque on May 15.
Farooque’s successor will represent his electorate in parliament for a few months only as the general election is scheduled to be held by the end of 2023 or at the beginning of 2024 after the by-election on Jul 17.
Arafat, who appears on TV talk shows, beat Md Jashim Uddin, president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, actor Ferdous Ahmed, Farooque’s son Roushan Hossain Pathan and several local leaders of the party and its affiliates in the fight for the nomination.
He did his higher studies in the US. The chairman of Suchinta Foundation, Arafat is also chief advisor to the Canadian University of Bangladesh’s trustee board.