AL toils hard to ensure single candidates

Faced with a large number of rebel candidates, the Awami League (AL) leadership is working overtime to field single candidates at any cost at all municipalities to ensure absolute victory in the upcoming civic elections, slated for December 30. Senior party leaders have directed the organising secretaries to go to their respective municipalities and convince the rebel candidates, so that they withdraw their nomination papers before the deadline stipulated by the Election Commission (EC). The directive followed a closed-door meeting between the party joint general secretaries and the seven organising secretaries, at party president Sheikh Hasina’s Dhanmondi political office yesterday morning.
The meeting, which began around 10:30am, ended at 12pm, with the joint general secretary, Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif, in the chair. According to The Independent’s local correspondents, at least one other AL mayoral candidate in each of the hundred municipalities has submitted his or her nomination papers to contest the elections independently, making it very difficult for the ruling party to ensure single candidates for the polls. Extremely annoyed, the senior party leaders have asked the organising secretaries to force the rebel candidates to withdraw their nomination papers before the deadline, sources who attended the meeting said. The sources also said the party’s central leaders who are not the members of the 10th Parliament have been asked to campaign for the polls, as this time, lawmakers are not allowed to participate in the election campaign.
When contacted, AL organising secretary Misbah Uddin Siraj, who was present at yesterday’s meeting, said, “We have been asked to convince the rebel party candidates so that they abstain from contesting the polls.” He added: “We will meet them personally and try to convince them, saying that contesting against their own party’s candidates means contesting against the party symbol (Nouka or the boat), and contesting against the party chief, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. We would tell them to withdraw their nomination papers by December 13, the deadline for withdrawal of nominations.”  
He, however, warned that stern action would be taken against those who refuse to withdraw their nominations in accordance with the guidelines of the party constitution. Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif told journalists after the meeting that they were working hard to ensure a single candidate for each municipality. “According to our information, there is one rebel candidate in each of the 71 municipalities, but I hope there would be no rebel candidate after December 13,” he said.
“We have selected candidates in accordance with the information provided by the grassroots leaders. If, even after this, they (the rebel AL leaders) contest independently, he/she will be ousted from the party for violating the party constitution,” Hanif warned.
Meanwhile, rebel AL candidates organised a demonstration in front of some municipalities, including Chalna pourasabah under Khulna district, Banaripara under Barisal district etc., to protest against the party’s decisions with respect to the selection of candidates for the upcoming municipality elections, reports our local correspondents. These municipality polls are going to be held under the party banner for the first time in the country’s history. The AL rebel candidates alleged that when the party had selected candidates, it had ignored their opinions. AL leader Golam Saleh Manju, a former pourasabha mayor, told The Independent that he was determined to independently contest the polls.

AL toils hard to ensure single candidates

Faced with a large number of rebel candidates, the Awami League (AL) leadership is working overtime to field single candidates at any cost at all municipalities to ensure absolute victory in the upcoming civic elections, slated for December 30. Senior party leaders have directed the organising secretaries to go to their respective municipalities and convince the rebel candidates, so that they withdraw their nomination papers before the deadline stipulated by the Election Commission (EC). The directive followed a closed-door meeting between the party joint general secretaries and the seven organising secretaries, at party president Sheikh Hasinas Dhanmondi political office yesterday morning. The meeting, which began around 10:30am, ended at 12pm, with the joint general secretary, Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif, in the chair. According to The Independents local correspondents, at least one other AL mayoral candidate in each of the hundred municipalities has submitted his or her nomination papers to contest the elections independently, making it very difficult for the ruling party to ensure single candidates for the polls. Extremely annoyed, the senior party leaders have asked the organising secretaries to force the rebel candidates to withdraw their nomination papers before the deadline, sources who attended the meeting said. The sources also said the partys central leaders who are not the members of the 10th Parliament have been asked to campaign for the polls, as this time, lawmakers are not allowed to participate in the election campaign. When contacted, AL organising secretary Misbah Uddin Siraj, who was present at yesterdays meeting, said, We have been asked to convince the rebel party candidates so that they abstain from contesting the polls. He added: We will meet them personally and try to convince them, saying that contesting against their own partys candidates means contesting against the party symbol (Nouka or the boat), and contesting against the party chief, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. We would tell them to withdraw their nomination papers by December 13, the deadline for withdrawal of nominations. He, however, warned that stern action would be taken against those who refuse to withdraw their nominations in accordance with the guidelines of the party constitution. Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif told journalists after the meeting that they were working hard to ensure a single candidate for each municipality. According to our information, there is one rebel candidate in each of the 71 municipalities, but I hope there would be no rebel candidate after December 13, he said. We have selected candidates in accordance with the information provided by the grassroots leaders. If, even after this, they (the rebel AL leaders) contest independently, he/she will be ousted from the party for violating the party constitution, Hanif warned. Meanwhile, rebel AL candidates organised a demonstration in front of some municipalities, including Chalna pourasabah under Khulna district, Banaripara under Barisal district etc., to protest against the partys decisions with respect to the selection of candidates for the upcoming municipality elections, reports our local correspondents. These municipality polls are going to be held under the party banner for the first time in the countrys history. The AL rebel candidates alleged that when the party had selected candidates, it had ignored their opinions. AL leader Golam Saleh Manju, a former pourasabha mayor, told The Independent that he was determined to independently contest the polls.