Seat-Sharing: AL firm at 26, JP wants at least 5 more
Negotiations with the Awami League have not yet been fruitful for the Jatiya Party as the ruling party won't withdraw its nominees from more than 26 constituencies for the JP aspirants to win easily.
Unless the ruling party withdraws more candidates, there is a chance the JP will not participate in the January 7 national election, said sources in the party.
JP Chairman GM Quader, Secretary General Mujibul Haque Chunnu, and co-chairmen Ruhul Amin Hawlader and Kazi Feron Rashid were at a meeting over the matter at senior co-chairman Anisul Islam Mahmud's Gulshan home as of 1:30am today.
The JP, the main opposition in parliament, wants easy wins in at least 31 constituencies.
AL leaders participating in the election as independents in over 260 constituencies have further complicated the situation for the JP because even if the AL withdraws its nominee in a constituency, the person running on JP ticket will still have to compete against an AL leader who is an independent. And this is likely to happen in the 26 constituencies that the AL is "giving" to the JP.
The only way JP can secure the easy victory it desires is if the AL nominees and the so-called AL independents retire from the race. But the AL has so far made no promises of "interfering" with the independents.
Delegations of the two parties met four times this month, but failed to reach a consensus. Yesterday's multiple meetings also ended without firm decisions.
The JP also failed to convince the AL to leave any of Dhaka's 20 constituencies for it.
Quader, his wife and presidium member Sherifa Quader, JP MPs Salma Islam and Syed Abu Hossain Babla filed nominations for Dhaka-17, Dhaka-18, Dhaka-1 and Dhaka-4. They will have to compete against AL nominees.
Yesterday, the JP stopped issuing letters confirming its leaders that they will run for parliament with the symbol of a plough.
According to sources, Quader said the letters should not be distributed because the AL and JP have yet to agree on the matter.
Contacted yesterday, Monajat Chowdhury, JP nominee for Dinajpur-4, said, "We are in the dark about our party's stance regarding the January 7 national election. We have so many questions. We are not being able to decide what to do next as the top leaders are not giving a clear message about the election."
The JP is running out of time as today is the last day for withdrawing nomination papers.
That means after JP's "share of parliament seats" is decided, AL nominees will have to withdraw nomination papers by today.
There are JP candidates in 287 constituencies while the AL has nominees in 298.
At the beginning of talks on seat sharing, the JP demanded 70. As more meetings took place the JP lowered its demand.
In the current parliament, JP has 27 seats including four elected in the reserved seats for women.
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