30 parties in race for JS; BNP, allies stay away

The BNP and its like-minded parties are formally out of the polls as nobody from those submitted nomination papers yesterday, the deadline for the submissions.

Candidates from 30 out of the 44 registered political parties have filed nominations for the national election, Election Commission Secretary Jahangir Alam told The Daily Star last night.

Citing primary statistics, he said 2,741 candidates have submitted nomination papers. However, he could not give the names of the parties.

"The deadline for submission of nomination papers expired at 4:00pm today [yesterday]. It will not be extended," Jahangir said in the evening.

Asked whether the election was destined to be held without the BNP's participation, he said, "You have to understand that."

Only 12 political parties contested the 2014 elections amid boycott by the BNP and other opposition parties, resulting in 153 lawmakers getting elected unopposed.

In 2018, a total of 39 parties ran, but the BNP and many others rejected the election results citing widespread irregularities.

This time, the BNP, its allies and some left-leaning political parties have been demanding general election under a non-party polls-time government. But the government rejected the demand, prompting the opposition parties to reject the polls schedule announced on November 15.

The BNP and several other opposition parties are enforcing a series of blockades and strikes in protest.

Meanwhile, the BNP and 39 other political parties in a meeting yesterday discussed drawing up programmes to discourage voters from casting votes.

The parties in a joint statement demanded scrapping of the polls schedule. They also urged the government to take steps to hold the election under a non-party polls-time government.

NUMBER OF CANDIDATES DROPS

For the January 7 election, at least 2,741 aspirants submitted nomination papers, which is lower than that of the previous election, shows EC data.

A total of 3,056 nomination papers were filed in 2018. The figure was 1,107 in 2014, 2,460 in 2008, 2,563 in 2001, 3,093 in 1996 and 3,855 in 1991.