AL begins nomination paper sales, says will contest polls from alliance
Seven smaller parties seek alliance with ruling party for polls
The Awami League started selling nomination papers for the upcoming 12th Jatiya Sangsad election on Saturday, with the party's President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurating the sale by buying her own form as a candidate.
AL's election mission kicked off with much fanfare at the party's Bangabandhu Avenue central office in the capital at 10am Saturday.
Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader, Education Minister Dipu Moni, Law Minister Anisul Huq, and Fisheries and Livestock Minister SM Rezaul Karim also bought their nomination papers on the first day.
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National cricket team captain Shakib Al Hasan also bought three nomination forms to contest the upcoming election.
The ruling party sold 1,064 nomination forms on the first day earning about Tk5.32 crore, confirmed Awami League Office Secretary Barrister Biplab Barua.
The Awami League also announced that it will participate in the elections through forming an alliance and seven parties have already expressed their interest in joining an electoral alliance with the ruling party.
Till November 21, the ruling party will sell the nomination forms, which can be collected and submitted from its central office on Bangabandhu Avenue every day from 10am to 4pm.
The Election Commission on Wednesday announced the schedule of the election, which would be held on January 7.
The ruling party's nomination paper sales started amid staunch objections from the opposition parties, including the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami, to the polls schedule announcement.
The BNP-Jamaat and other like-minded parties have been enforcing a series of hartals and blockades for two weeks, demanding the national polls be held under a non-party neutral caretaker administration.
They are set to enforce another round of 48-hour hartal starting today to protest the announcement of the schedule.
The EC will scrutinise the nomination submissions from 1-4 December. Appeals against the nominations can be submitted from 6-15 December and nominations need to be withdrawn by 17 December.
Political parties will be able to distribute symbols within 18 December and the election campaign will officially kick off on 18 December. The campaign duration will end at 8:00am on 5 January.
Aspiring candidates are required to pay Tk50,000 for the nomination form.
Awami League alliance
Awami League Office Secretary Barrister Biplob Barua on Saturday said the AL had already sent a letter to the Election Commission seeking to contest the polls through an alliance.
"In which constituencies the AL will nominate candidates from alliance and in which constituencies alone, will be announced on the last day of withdrawal of nomination papers on 17 December," he added.
Seven political parties have applied to the EC, seeking 'Boat', the electoral symbol of Awami League, to contest the upcoming election.
The seven political parties are- Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) led by Hasanul Haque Inu, Ganatantri Party led by Arosh Ali, Samyabadi Dal led by Dilip Barua, Jatiya Party (JP) led by Anwar Hossain Manju, the Workers Party led by Rashed Khan Menon, Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh by Badruddoza Chowdhury and Tariqat Federation by Syed Najibul Basher Maizbhandaria.
The parties wrote to the Election Commission in this regard, EC sources said.
Awami League's nomination paper sales
Following PM Hasina, central leaders of the party started buying their respective forms. After the party president, the sale of nomination forms became accessible to other nomination seekers.
Among the party's 1,074 nomination forms sales, 1,060 people directly collected the nomination forms, while 14 aspirant candidates collected the forms online, according to Biplab Barua.
He said the AL sold 214 party nomination forms in Dhaka Division, 201 in Chattogram Division, 55 in Sylhet Division, 105 in Mymensingh Division, 75 in Barishal Division, 125 in Khulna Division, 109 in Rangpur Division and 176 in Rajshahi Division.
Obaidul Quader bought his nomination form for Noakhali-5 constituency (Companiganj and Kabirhat), while On behalf of Shakib, his relatives collected the nomination forms for Magura-1, Magura-2 and Dhaka-10.
Awami League hopefuls are encouraged to submit their applications either themselves or through a qualified representative, avoiding additional public gatherings.
Additionally, the party has introduced a Smart Nomination App to streamline the process of collecting and submitting nomination forms online.
