AL shares 32 seats with JP, allies

Bangladesh Awami League announced Sunday to share a total of 32 seats with Jatiya Party and the partners of its 14-party alliance for the upcoming national election slated for January 7, report agencies.
Among the 32 constituencies, AL has left 26 seats for Jatiya Party and the remaining six seats for the three partners of its 14-party alliance.
AL office secretary Biplab Barua on Sunday said this while taking to reporters at Nirbachan Bhaban in the city. Biplab came to inform the EC about the withdrawal of his party contestants in the 30 seats.
Now the AL will field candidates for 263 seats in the national election.
Sunday was the last day for candidates to withdraw from the polls. The Awami League submitted to election regulators an official list of the seats where candidates had withdrawn.
According to the letter sent to the EC, the Awami League has withdrawn candidates in 25 races in favour of Jatiya Party candidates. The party had not fielded any candidates for the Narayanganj-5 race, which the Jatiya Party's Salim Osman is contesting.
Amid seat-sharing discussions, the Awami League had indicated it would be giving up seven seats in favour of the 14 Party Alliance. However, it only withdrew from six seats in its official letter.
AL is sharing three seats with Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, two with Workers Party of Bangladesh and one with Jatyia Party (Manju).
The candidacies of five Awami League nominees were scrapped amid the screening by returning officers and the appeals by the Election Commission.
As such, Awami League candidates will run using the boat symbol in 263 constituencies.
Barua said that the 14 Party candidates for the six seats will also run using the boat symbol. This means the boat symbol will contest 269 polls in the general election.
The candidates in the 26 seats for the Jatiya Party will run under the plough symbol of their party.
The Awami League withdrew from the Bogura-4 and Lakshmipur-4 races in favour of JASAD, the Rajshahi-2 and Barishal-2 races in favour of the Workers Party, and Pirojpur-2 in favour of the Jatiya Party JP. It had previously not fielded any candidates for the Narayanganj-5 and Kushtia-2 polls.
The EC had scrapped the nominations of the ruling party's candidates for the Jashore-4, Faridpur-3 and Mymensingh-9 seats. The Awami Leageu candidates for the Cox's Bazar-1 and Barishal-4 seats also lost their nominations during the screening and did not regain them on appeal.
The JP contestants in the 26 seats are Hafiz Uddin Ahmed in Thakurgaon- 3, Rana Mohammad Sohel in Niphamari- 3, Ahsan Adelur Rahman in Nilphamari- 4, Hossain Mukbul Shahriar in Rangpur- 1, Ghulam Mohammad Quader (GM Quader) in Rangpur-3, AKM Mustafizur Rahman in Kurigram- 1, Panir Uddin Ahmed in Kurigram-2, Shameem Haider Patwary in Gaibandha-1, Abdur Rashid Sarkaer in Gaibandha-2,Shariful Islam Jennah in Bogura-2 Md Nurul Islam Talkuder in Bogruar-3, Md Ashrafuzzaman in Sathkhira-2, ABM Ruhul Amin Hawlader in Patuakhlai-1, Ghulam Kibria Tipu in Barishal-3, Md Mashrekul Azam Robi in Pirojpur-3, Salah Uddin Ahmed (Mukti) in Myemnsingh- 5 Fakhrul Imam in Mymensingh-8, Md Mujibul Haque (Chunnu) in Kishorganj- 3, Jahirul Alam Rubel in Manikganj 1, Sharifa Qauder in Dhaka- 18, Md Abdul Moneem Chowdhury in Habiganj- 1, Md Abdul Hamid in Brahmanbaria- 2, Masud Uddin Chowdhury in Feni- 3, Anisul Islam Mahmud in Chhatogram- 5 and Md Solaiman Alam Sheth in Chattogram- 8, and Selim Osman in Narayanganj- 5.
The three Jasod candidates are AKM Rezaul Karim Tanseen in Bogura-4, Hasanul Huq Inu in Kushtia-2 and Mosharraf Hossain in Laxmipur-4, the two workers party contenders are Rashed Khan Menon in Barishal-2 and Fazle Hossain Badsha in Rajshahi-2 and Jatiya Party (JP-Manju) contestant Anwar Hossain (Manju) in Pirojpur-2