The Bangladesh Nationalist Party, the arch rival of the ruling Awami League, left 58 seats for its allies in both the Jatiya Oikyafront and 20-party alliance till last night to contest the 11th parliamentary elections.

Of them, 19 seats were given to the allies in the Jatiya Oikyafront and 39 seats to the 20-party alliance partners out of 300 parliamentary seats.  

Dr Kamal Hossain-led Ganaforum, ASM Rab-led Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal and Mahmudur Rahman Manna-led Nagarik Oikya obtained five seats each while Bangabir Kader Siddique-led Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Janata League got three seats and Jatiya Oikya Prokriya one seat.

In the 20-party alliance, Jamaat-Islami obtained the highest number of 24 seats while LDP five, Jamiyat-e-Ulama-e-Islam 3, Khelafat Majlish and Jatiya Party (Kazi Zafar) two each and Bangladesh Jatiya Party, NPP and Bangladesh Peoples Party one each. However Jamaat-e-Islami and Ganaforum were in negotiation with BNP till midnight demanding few more seats. The BNP sources said that the party may leave two more seats  to them. All the partners in the folds of Jatiya Oikyafront and 20-party alliance except LDP will contest the December 30 elections with the sheaf of paddy, the poll symbol of the BNP. The LDP leaders will contest the polls with their own poll symbol ‘umbrella’. Earlier, the AL left 60 seats for its allies belonging to Grand Alliance, Jatiya Party and Jatiya Juktafront. Ganaforum leaders, who were given Jatiya Oikyafront nominations, are Mostafa Mohsin Montu for Dhaka-7, AHM Khalequzzaman for Mymensingh-8, Reza Kibria for Habiganj-1, Prof Abu Sayed for Pabna-1, and Maj Gen (Retd) AMSA Amin for Kurigram-2 constituencies. Subrata Chowdhury also claimed that he has been given nomination for Dhaka-6 constituency. Five Nagarik Oikya leaders who got nominations are Mahmudur Rahman Manna for Bogura-2, SM Akram for Narayanganj-5, Shah Rahmatullah for Rangpur-1, Mofakkharul Islam for Rangpur-6 and JM Nurul Rahman Jahangir for Barishal-4 constituencies. Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) leaders, who received Oikyafront nominations, include ASM Abdur Rab for Luxmipur-4, Abdul Malek Ratan for Cumilla-4, Shahiduddin Mahmud Swapan for Dhaka-18, Dr Saiful Islam for Kishoreganj-3 and Nurul Islam Mal for Shariatpur-1 constituencies. Krishak Sramik Janata League got two constituencies- Kader Siddique’s daughter Kuri Siddique for Tangail-8, Rafiqul Islam for Tangail-4 and  Iqbal Siddique for Gazipur-3 constituencies. Sultan Mohammed Mansur of Jatiya Oikya Prokriya received nomination to contest the poll from Maulovibazar-2. Meanwhile, ASM Abdur Rab and Mahmudur Rahman Manna last night received nomination letters from the BNP chairperson’s Gulshan office last night. The Jamaat leaders who obtained nominations from 20-parry alliance are Dr Shafiqur Rahman for Dhaka-15, Rafiqul Islam Khan for Sirajganj-4, Abul Kalam Azad for Khulna-6, Syed Abdullah Mohammed Taher for Cumilla-11, Miah Golam Parwar for Khulna-5, Shamsul Islam for Chattogram-15, Hamidur Rahman Azad for Cox's Bazar-2, Fariduddin Chowdhury for Sylhet-5, Habibur Rahman for Sylhet-6, Abdul Hakim for Thakurgaon-2, Abu Hanif for Dinajpur-1, Anwarul Islam for Dinajpir-6, Azizul Islam for Nilphamari-3, Majedur Rahman for Gaibandha-1, Abdul Khaleq for Satkhira-2, Gazi Nazrul Islam for Satkhira-4, Shamim Saydee for Pirojpur-1. Andalib Rahman Partha got nomination for Dhaka-17 while Fariduzzaman Farhad of NPP for Narail-2, Rita Rahman of Peoples Party for Rangpir-3 and Syed Muhammed Ibrahim of Kalyan Party for Chattogram-5 constituencies. LDP leaders- Oli Ahmed got nomination to contest the poll from Chattogram-14 while Nurul Alam from Chattogram-7, Redwan Ahmed from Cumilla-7, Shahadat Hossain Selim from Luxmipur-1 and Syed Mahbub Morshed from Mymensingh-10 constituencies. Khelafat Majlish leaders Ahmed Abdul Quader will contest the election from Habiganj-4 and Mufti Munir Hossain from Narayanganj-4 constituencies. Jamiyat leaders Shahinur Rahman Pasha obtained nomination for Sunamganj-3, Abdul Basid Azad for Habiganj-2 and Mufti Wakkas for Jeahore-5 constituencies. Jatiya Party leaders TIM Fazle Rabbi Chowdhury and Ahsan Habib Linkon got nominations for Gaibandha-3 and Kustia-2 constituencies respectively. In the ninth parliamentary elections, the BNP had shared 41 constituencies among the partners of the then four-party alliance.

Meanwhile, BNP aspirants deprived of nomination to contest the general election, carried out attacks on the party chairperson’s political office in Gulshan yesterday evening. A videographer of a private TV channel was injured and glass panes of the office were damaged.

Supporters of deprived party leaders, Fahim Chowdhury of Sherpur-2, Selimuzzaman of Gopalganj-1 and ANM Ehsanul Haque Milon of Chandpur-1 constituencies, allegedly staged demonstrations in front of the office.

At one stage, the unruly activists began throwing brickbats when party leaders were distributing letters to the party and alliance’s final candidates to receive poll symbol from returning officers.

Shah Alam Faruk, videographer of Independent Television, was injured.

The demonstration and chanting of slogans were continuing when the report was being filed at about 8:00pm.

On Friday night, other deprived party leaders demonstrated in front of the chairperson’s Gulshan office for being denied party nomination.  Earlier in the day, supporters of Ehsanul Haque Milon staged a demonstration in front of the party's central office at Naya Paltan.

The demonstrators tried to break the main gate of the office. BNP chairperson’s adviser Ataur Rahman Dhali blamed ruling party men for the attack, saying they did it to implement their agenda.

 Milon’s supporters locked the main gate of the office, protesting denial of party nomination for the former state minister.

 The demonstrators opened the lock at the main gate after over one hour, giving a 12-hour ultimatum for nomination for Milon, who is now in jail, replacing the party’s central leader, Mosharraf Hossain.

 Leaders and activists of the Kachua Thana unit of the BNP, Juba Dal and Chhatra Dal took part in the demonstration, that began at about 12:00noon.

 The demonstrators alleged that Mosharraf is not a well-known person in the constituency and he has lived in Malaysia for a long time. But Milon was in touch with the people of the area despite being abroad for five years. Milon’s sacrifice for the party was not taken into consideration, they claimed.

 Assistant organising secretary of Chandpur district Juba Dal unit, Alauddin, told reporters that they met the party’s senior joint secretary general, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, and demanded nomination for Milon from the Chandpur-1 constituency within 12 hours.

 Assistant organising secretary of the BNP’s Kachua unit, Jahangir Alam Faruki, said there is no alternative of Milon to recover the constituency.  In another development, the BNP yesterday fielded Biswas Jahangir Alam, by replacing its declared candidate, SM Sazzad Hossain, from the Narail-1 constituency.

 Briefing reporters, BNP senior joint secretary general, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, told reporters that party leaders and activists are united in favour of candidates given the “sheaf of paddy” symbol to contest the elections.

 Regarding demonstrations by those deprived of nomination, he said agitating over nomination is nothing new.

 It may be mentioned that the BNP gave nomination letters to more than one aspirant as part of the party’s plan to field them as proxy candidates, if their priority candidates lose their candidature.

 Many BNP leaders started expressing unhappiness as the party started announcing final and single candidates from each constituency from among the many valid candidates of the party and partners of the Jatiya Oikyafront and the 20-party alliance.

 Today (Sunday) is the last date for withdrawal of candidature, while valid candidates will get the poll symbol tomorrow.

IK