Now is time for lobbying

Awami League nomination-seekers are in a fierce competition among themselves to get the much-coveted ticket to run in the election, with dozens of aspirants lobbying ministers and influential leaders hard for their blessings.

At the Gono Bhaban on Wednesday, party chief Sheikh Hasina made the aspirants, who came from across the country, promise to work for the party-nominated candidates.

And yet many of them stayed back in the capital and met senior leaders, trying to convince them to lobby Hasina for them, party sources said.

“I know that nomination will be given by the party chief and I have no way to meet her. This is why I am going to some influential leaders so they place my case before the party chief,” an aspirant from Khulna told The Daily Star yesterday.

A total of 4,037 AL aspirants collected party nomination forms for the 11th parliamentary election set for December 30. That's an average of 13 hopefuls in each of the 300 constituencies. 

Of them, some 700 are elected representatives of different local government bodies, and Hasina has made it clear that those already holding public offices would not get party tickets.

They bought the nomination forms only for publicity in their areas as part of their plan to contest future elections.

“I know I will not get nomination this time. But still I bought the nomination form to present myself as a future leader of my constituency. This is only for publicity in my area,” said a nomination-seeker from Jessore.

Against this backdrop, the AL parliamentary board yesterday sat to pick party candidates from the rest of the 2,000 plus aspirants. Hasina chaired the meeting at her Dhanmondi party office.

The selection of candidates began with the Rangpur Division, starting from Panchagarh-1, known as constituency number 1. Sources said the meeting discussed the popularity of different candidates as found in various surveys. The selection process is expected to be completed in a week.

But a fresh row over sharing seats with the Jatiya Party, AL's ally, will make the job even more difficult. 

On Monday, the JP sent a letter to the AL, requesting it not to announce candidates in the seats that the ruling party wants to share with the JP, sources in both the parties said.

The JP argued that if the names of the candidates are announced, the AL aspirants may not withdraw their candidatures, which will make it difficult for both parties to win.

In its reply, the AL asked the JP, led by former military ruler HM Ershad who is now Hasina's special envoy, to declare names of their candidates in all the 300 seats. The AL will do the same. And once they reach an agreement on seat-sharing, either party will withdraw their candidates from those seats, the sources added.

“We requested the Awami League not to name their candidates for the seats it will offer us. If the party names its candidates and later shares those seats with us, it will create a misunderstanding,” JP Secretary General Ruhul Amin Hawlader told The Daily Star.

In the interest of the alliance, both sides must make sacrifices to get expected results, he added.

'70 SEATS FOR ALLIES'

AL's partners in the 14-party alliance want up to 116 seats while the JP alone is seeking 100, sources said.

However, the AL may set aside about 70 seats for its allies, with up to 40 for the JP. The JP has 29 MPs in the current parliament.

AL General Secretary Obaidul Quader himself hinted yesterday that they would share 65-70 seats with their allies.

The AL is planning to offer six constituencies to Workers Party and five seats to Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD-Inu). It will also have to set aside some seats for Dr Badruddoza Chowdhury-led Juktafront, JSD-Ambia, Bangladesh Tarikat Federation, Jatiya Party (JP-Manju) and several other smaller parties.

The ruling party has already asked its 14-party allies to provide the names of their winnable candidates.