JP's decision on contesting polls this afternoon: Chunnu

The Jatiya Party, the main opposition in parliament, will announce sometime this afternoon whether it will participate in the January 7 national election.

JP Secretary General Mujibul Haque Chunnu said this at a press briefing at the party chairman's Banani office around 1:00pm.

The development comes after Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader told reporters earlier today that there would be clarification on the AL-JP seat-sharing issue by 4:00pm today.

Chunnu said JP Chairman GM Quader is meeting with the senior leaders of the party. No final decision was made at the time of the briefing, he said.

Staying in the election is not a matter of reaching an understanding with the government, but a matter of party decision, he said.

The 12th parliamentary election will be held on January 7. Today is the last date of withdrawal of nomination papers.

Awami League and Jatiya Party sources said JP wants Awami League to withdraw the nomination papers of candidates with the boat symbol in at least 35 constituencies. Apart from this, JP wants independent candidates of Awami League to withdraw from the candidacy.

A series of meetings were held in the last few days between the leaders of the two parties on seat sharing issue.

As of last night, the sources said that AL agreed to withdraw their candidates from 26 seats.

About the meeting between delegations of the two parties late last night, Obaidul Quader said, "We, from our end, gave them an idea [about seats to be shared], a certain number, at which we can reach a compromise."