Nasiruddin Patwari can enter parliament even if he loses

One of the most talked about candidates in the 13th National Parliament election was Nasiruddin Patwari, the candidate of the 11-party electoral alliance and the NCP's chief coordinator. Although he lost to BNP heavyweight Mirza Abbas in Dhaka-8 constituency by a small margin of votes, party sources said that his path to the upper house (Senate) of the National Parliament is open.

The party will nominate members based on the percentage of votes obtained by the parties in the 100-member upper house to be formed in the light of the 'yes' vote in the referendum and the July Charter. In the 13th National Parliament election, the NCP fielded candidates in 30 seats and received a total of 2,269,631 votes, which is 3.21 percent of the total votes. Accordingly, the party is likely to get at least three seats in the upper house.

Several sources in the party said that Nasiruddin Patwari is at the top of the list of possible three members. Although an official announcement has not been made yet, his name is the most prominent in the party discussions.

However, political analysts believe that if he decides to contest for the post of mayor in the upcoming Dhaka City Corporation elections, he may not even go for the post of member of the upper house.

According to the unofficial results of the elections held on February 12, Mirza Abbas got 59,336 votes in the Dhaka-8 constituency. On the other hand, Nasiruddin Patwari got 54,127 votes—a gap of just over five thousand.

NCP joint chief organizer Sadia Farzana said that discussions are underway within the alliance and the party on who will be nominated for the upper house. The names will be officially announced once the decision-making process is completed.