Abdul Hamid set to become President

Abdul Hamid, the veteran Awami League leader, is poised to take over as the 20th President of Bangladesh.

He has served as Speaker of Parliament twice and got elected to the Jatiya Sangsad seven times.A meeting of the ruling party’s Parliamentary Party nominated him as its presidential contender on Sunday. His rise to presidency looks certain since the Awami League and its allies hold absolute majority in Parliament.
The voting is scheduled for Apr 29.

Hamid’s immediate predecessor Md Zillur Rahman died on Mar 20 in Singapore, drawing the curtains on a colourful political career as a prominent Awami League leader that lasted for more than six decades.
Mohammad Abdul Hamid was born in Kamalpur, Mithamoin Upazila on 1944, to parents Hazi Mohammaf Teyebuddin and Tamiza Khatun.

He passed IA and BA from Durudayal College of Kishoreganj and LLB from Central Law College under Dhaka University.

He was President of the Kishoreganj District Bar Association five times during the period 1990 to 1996.

Hamid began his political journey on 1959 after he joined the Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student front of Awami League. He was actively involved in the Anti-Ayub movement in 1961 and was eventually imprisoned by the Pakistan government.

In 1963 he was elected the general secretary and in 1965 the Vice- President of the Students’ Union in Gurudayal College of Kishoreganj.

Hamid was the founder president of Chhatra League’s Kishoreganj sub-divisional unit in 1964 and also got elected as the vice president of Chhatra League in Mymensingh district in 1966-1967.

He joined the Awami League in 1969.

In 1970 Abdul Hamid was elected as the junior most member of the National Assembly, from Mymensingh-18 constituency.

He joined Bangladesh’s War of Independence in the following year.

He was awarded the Swadhinata Padak this year for his contributions during the Liberation War.

He was elected from Kishoreganj-5 constituency as a Member of Parliament in the National Elections of 1986, 1991, 1996, 2001 and 2009.

Abdul Hamid was unanimously elected Deputy Speaker in the seventh Parliament on Jul 13 1996. He later went on to become the Speaker in 2001, Jul 12.

After the 2008 national elections, he was unanimously elected the Speaker for the second term.