14-Party Alliance: AL to share 7 seats with 3 partners
The Awami League will share seven seats with three of its partners in the 14-party alliance.
Veteran AL leader Amir Hossain Amu told this to The Daily Star last night.
"I contacted the leaders of the three parties and conveyed the Awami League's decision to them. We will decide about sharing seats with the other alliance partners and inform them soon," said Amu, also the coordinator of the alliance.
Of the seven seats, Bangladesh Workers Party will have three -- Barishal-3 for party President Rashed Khan Menon, Rajshahi-2 for its General Secretary Fazle Hossain Badsha, and Satkhira-1 for Mostafa Lutfullah MP.
Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) President Hasanul Haq Inu will vie for Kushtia-2. The AL did not field any candidate for this seat.
The AL will leave Bogura-4 for JSD's Rezaul Karim Tansen, the incumbent MP from this constituency. The ruling party had nominated Md Helal Uddin Kabiraj for the seat.
The JSD had also demanded the AL leave Feni-1 for incumbent Shirin Akhter, but the ruling party said that she would be made lawmaker from a reserved seat for women, said AL sources.
The AL will keep aside Lakhsmipur-4 for JSD standing committee member Mosharraf Hossain. In the 2018 national election, the AL had left it for Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh. Abdul Mannan of Bikalpa Dhara is the incumbent. The AL had nominated Faridun Nahar Laily for the seat.
The ruling party will share Pirojpur-2 with Jatiya Party (Manju). Party Chairman Anwar Hossain Manju, also the incumbent, will run again.
Meanwhile, JSD chief Inu in a video message last night said his party did not agree to the AL's decision on seat-sharing.
He requested the ruling party to reconsider the decision and withdraw the "AL independents" from the seats to be shared with the alliance partners.
Both the Workers Party and JSD have three MPs each in the current parliament. The AL had shared 11 seats with its alliance partners, including five with the Workers Party and four with JSD, in the 2018 national election.
During a series of meetings with the AL, its alliance partners this time demanded 30 seats.
They also repeatedly requested the ruling party to withdraw "its independents" from the seats to be shared with them. But the AL did not agree.
Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh, an electoral partner of the AL, got three seats from the ruling AL in the last national election.
Mahi B Chowdhury, Abdul Mannan and MA Shahin contested the polls for Munshiganj-2, Laxmipur-4, and Moulvibazar-2 with the AL's electoral symbol "boat".
"I had no discussion with Awami League leaders regarding seat-sharing. I had no expectations anyway," Mahi B Chowdhury told The Daily Star.
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