‘Independents’ will stay in race

Awami League President Sheikh Hasina has ruled out the possibility of its leaders running as independents withdrawing from the race.

She expressed her determination in this regard when the top leaders of the 14-party alliance requested her to give them an easy run in seats the ruling party would share with its allies, said sources.

Hasina had a meeting with the partners of the AL-led alliance at the Gono Bhaban last night to discuss seat-sharing for the January 7 national election.

The PM assured the partners that her party will contest the election under the banner of the 14-party combine.

She questioned the alliance leaders why they could not make their parties stronger even though they have been elected lawmakers several times and were ministers, said meeting sources.

She said the independents would run to make the election participatory and improve turnout.

Last night the PM almost confirmed sharing five seats.

The five seats are Workers Party President Rashed Khan Menon in Barishal-3 and General Secretary Fazley Hossain Badsha in Rajshahi-2, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) President Hasanul Haq Inu in Kushtia-2, Jatiya Party (Manju) Chairman Anwar Hossain Manju in Pirojpur-2, and Bangladesh Tarikat Federation Chairman Syed Najibul Bashar Maizbhandari in Chattogram-2, said sources.

The meeting, however, did not make any final decision regarding the partners’ demand for more seats. Further discussions would be held between leaders of the allies for a decision on the number of seats AL would share, said the sources.

Hasina formed a committee of her party, comprising AL leaders Amir Hossain Amu, Obaidul Quader, Jahangir Kabir Nanak and AFM Bahauddin Nasim, to sit with the alliance partners for making the decision on seat-sharing.

The AL president on November 26 gave the go-ahead to her party colleagues to run as independents in an effort to make the election competitive and bring more voters to the polling centres.

The party, however, later said any AL leader seeking to run as independent must get the party nod.

Over 400 “independents” from the AL are pitted against their party nominees in 298 seats. This means the AL candidates will be challenged by multiple party colleagues in almost all seats.

Many AL nominees, including incumbent lawmakers, are worried about their victories as they will have to face a tough challenge from party colleagues. Many of them contacted some top leaders to have the nominations of the independents withdrawn.

According to sources, Najibul Bashar Maizbhandari at the meeting last night expressed disappointment over Quader’s recent statement on the alliance partners saying that his statement raised questions about the necessity of the combine.

Expressing resentment at the AL’s move to bring smaller Islamist parties to the polls, Menon and Inu said that this would not help the AL in the long run.

Alliance leaders, however, assured Hasina of staying with the AL whatever comes.

The AL chief told the alliance leaders that conspiracies were being hatched to foil the election, but no one would be allowed to do so. She also assured them that the election would be free and fair.

Hasina told the meeting that several sanctions could be imposed after the elections and that she was not worried about it, rather she was ready to face those challenges.

On Saturday, four top partners of the alliance sent lists of their desired seats to the AL.

The AL’s partners were given 11 seats in the 2018 national election. This time, the partners will stick to their demand for 20 seats, said sources.

The AL partners have eight MPs in the current parliament.