12:00 AM, December 08, 2018 / LAST MODIFIED: 12:00 AM, December 08, 2018

Islamic Parties in Alliance: Only Tarikat gets AL's blessing

Two Tarikat Federation leaders are the only Islamic party representatives fortunate enough to get the Awami League's boat as their electoral symbol.

The Tarikat Federation is one of the 32 Islamic parties that are partners of the AL-led alliance while there are 34 Islamic parties in the Jatiya Party-led alliance of 57 partners.

Tarikat chief Syed Nazibul Bashar Maizvandari said the two leaders nominated by the AL have the prospect of winning.

The JP-led alliance which joined the AL-led grand alliance has been given about 40 seats.  JP is not sharing any of the seats with its allies.

Islamic Democratic Alliance (IDA), a combine of 15 Islamic parties born in September, asked in vain for seven seats from the AL.

"It's frustrating. We will decide our next course of action in a couple of days," said IDA MA Awal, co-chairman of the alliance and a lawmaker from Laxmipur-1.

Awal got elected in 2014 when he was the secretary general of Tarikat Federation. He formed the IDA after being expelled from Tarikat.

Islami Oikya Jote, a combine of four parties, left the BNP-led alliance around a year ago and allied with the AL. It submitted nomination papers in 10 constituencies. But the AL did not allow its leaders to use the boat symbol.

"We will contest the polls using our own symbol," its Chairman Abdul Latif Nejami told The Daily Star.

Formed in November, Combined Islamic Jote, an alliance of 10 parties, had sought eight seats from the AL in vain.

"We went to the Awami League to contest the polls using their symbol. We are unhappy," Zafrullah, chairman of the alliance, told this newspaper. 

"We have 26 candidates to contest the polls as independent," he added.

The five Islamic parties that are partners of the BNP-led 20 party alliance have received better shares.

The BNP has nominated 20 leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami to contest the election using the symbol of sheaf of paddy.

The BNP is likely to leave three other seats for the leaders of two other Islamic parties, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam and Khelafat Majlish. 

Islami Andolon Bangladesh and Bangladesh Khelafat Andolon do not belong to any alliance. They have candidates in 299 and 26 constituencies respectively.


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