AL wary over too many contenders

The Awami League high command is worried as almost all the 300 constituencies have four to five party leaders each vigorously campaigning for nominations in the parliamentary polls, according to AL insiders.

In addition to the incumbent MPs, they are using posters, placards, and billboards in their areas to highlight themselves and the successes of the government to get noticed by the party high-ups.

However, there are no multiple candidates in a handful of constituencies from where AL high-ups usually run, said the insiders.

"The aspirants believe that this election would be like the one of January 5, 2014 and that if one could manage the party's blessings, one is sure to become a lawmaker," a senior AL leader told The Daily Star on condition of anonymity.

However, this could become a serious problem for the AL if its high-ups fail to manage the potential rebel candidates and convince them to work for the party nominated runner. Things could get messy after the AL announces its nominees.

More than a dozen AL dissidents won in the last parliamentary election. One of them even beat an AL presidium member.

The party, however, did not take any disciplinary action against the rebels. "But this time the election would be a challenging one as the BNP and other parties will be running," said the AL leader. 

The AL's constitution allows expulsion of leaders if they ran against party nominated candidates. But the threat of expulsion could not stop dissident candidates from contesting local government polls held in recent years.

The AL leaders said, "I think the party's nomination will be finalised in the first week of November. We will also take advantage of the provision of the RPO [Representation of the People Order] to manage dissidents."

The electoral laws allow a registered political party to nominate more than one candidate in a constituency but it has to notify the returning officer about its final pick before the last date for candidature withdrawal. The rest of the nominations then becomes invalid.

At that stage, those, whose nomination had become void, cannot run as independents since independent candidates need signatures of one percent of the constituents.

The AL leader also told The Daily Star that the leader believes AL President Sheikh Hasina would have to sit with the potential rebels to stop them from running.

Intra-party conflict also remains as a thorny issue.

In the last four years, leaders of the AL and its associate organisations got involved in conflicts that often became violent. At least 100 were killed and 8,690 injured in 634 incidents of this nature, according to Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), a leading rights body.

Their clashes with rival parties, including the BNP, were a lot fewer during the period. At least 14 people had been killed and around 1,000 injured in 84 incidents across the country, according to ASK, which gathered data from newspaper reports and its own investigations.

Hasina at meetings with party's leaders had urged her party's grassroots level leaders several times to resolve their internal conflicts, most of which stem from bids to establish supremacy in their areas.

On June 23, at a special extended meeting of the AL, she came down hard on a section of nomination seekers. She said some people have declared themselves MP candidates of AL and are seen criticising incumbent lawmakers and the party in their bid to woo voters.

Issuing a warning, she said the grassroots would be held responsible if people did not vote for the party in the general election.

Recently, AL General Secretary Obaidul Quader also issued note of caution. On October 5 in the capital, Quader said rebel candidates would be expelled “directly” from the party.

He said anyone could have aspiration to be an AL lawmaker as it is their democratic right. But everyone has to work unitedly in favour of the party-nominated candidate.

“The person who will get the party nomination should not consider other aspirants as enemies,” he said.