AL to contest upazila polls without alliance

Awami League will contest the upcoming upazila parishad polls without any alliance, said party General Secretary Obaidul Quader yesterday.

“We won't go to polls as part of any alliance,” he said at a meeting of Awami League's Dhaka North unit held at the party's Dhanmondi office in Dhaka.

AL, led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, won an overwhelming majority in the December 30 national election. The ruling party-led alliance secured 96 percent seats in the 300-member parliament while BNP and its allies won eight seats.

Quader said presidents of the party's upazila and district units would suggest three possible candidates and the party's upazila election nomination board will choose one of them.

The Election Commission is likely to announce the schedule for the upazila parishad polls in the first week of February.

The commission may start holding the election in phases from the first week of March, said Election Commission Secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed.

As per law, union parishad election must be held at least six months before the tenure of the local government body expires.

In 2014, elections in 487 upazilas were held in six phases between February and May.