The National Citizen Party (NCP) on Sunday announced its first batch of 100 candidates for upcoming local government elections, covering upazila and municipal constituencies across the country.

The names were unveiled at a press conference at the party's temporary office in Banglamotor by NCP's Chief Organiser (Northern Region) Sarjis Alam.

Sarjis said more than 1,000 applications had been submitted to the party for local government seats, from which the initial 100 were selected. "We will announce another 100 candidates in the second phase on the 20th of this month. This nomination process will continue.”

The NCP chief organiser said candidates would be drawn not only from party ranks but also from other political parties, provided they meet certain criteria. Applicants must be hardworking, publicly acceptable, free from any history of oppression, and must have had no direct involvement with the previous fascist government or crimes associated with it.

“We will do a thorough vetting process, and if anyone from another political party wishes to join, we will make every effort to give them the opportunity,” Sarjis said.

He added that the candidate selection process has been designed to ensure broad social representation, with students, workers, women and members of the Hindu minority community all given the opportunity to contest under the NCP banner.