Bangladesh News

The Awami League-led grand alliance is threatened with losing a lot of votes in at least 41 seats to the rebel candidates of alliance components AL and Jatiya Party (JP) in the December 29 parliamentary elections.

AL candidates have not yet withdrawn their candidature in at least 14 seats that have been kept for JP while rebel AL candidates have become a threat to alliance candidates from the AL itself in at least 20 seats.

In three constituencies JP leaders are contesting against alliance candidates from their own party while two AL leaders are contesting against the alliance candidates independently in two seats.

In Munshiganj-3 constituency, JP leader Mujibur Rahman is contesting the polls against alliance candidate Idris Ali of AL.

The grand alliance has kept three constituencies where both AL and JP candidates are contesting the polls as rivals.

Talking to The Daily Star last night, JP Chairman HM Ershad blamed the AL for the situation. “Our opponents might get its benefit,” he said in a resenting tone.

When contacted, AL election conducting committee co-chairman HT Imam said they would resolve the problem by today.

According to the seat sharing deal within the grand alliance, AL leaders were nominated for 242 seats and JP leaders for 49 seats including the three open seats, Workers Party leaders for three constituencies, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) for four seats and Gonotontri Party and Zaker Party each from one seat.

The three seats where the AL and JP are fighting as rivals are Nilphamari-4 with Shawkat Chowdhury of JP and Col (retd) Maruf Saqlain of AL, Khulna-3 with Abdul Gaffar Biswas of JP and Munnujan Sufian of AL, and Sylhet-3 with Atiqur Rahman of JP and Mahmud us Samad Chowdhury of AL.

AL CANDIDATES AGAINST ALLIANCE CANDIDATES FROM JP
The 15 seats where both AL and JP candidates are contesting with party symbols are Kurigram-4 (Golam Habib Dulal of JP and Zakir Hossain of AL), Gaibandha-4 (Mohammad Ali Mahbub Talukder of JP and Monwar Hossain Chowdhury of AL), Gaibandha-5 (Rowshan Ershad of JP and Fazle Rabbi of AL), Sirajganj-2 (Aminul Islam of JP and Zannat Ara Henri of AL), Kushtia-4 (Abdul Awal of JP and Sultana Tarun of AL), Mymensingh-4 (Rowshan Ershad of JP and Motiur Rahman of AL), Pirojpur-1 (Mostafa Jamal Haider of JP and Abdul Awal Saidur of AL), Dhaka-5 (Syed Abu Hossain Babla of JP and Habibur Rahman Mollah of AL), Comilla-11(Kazi Zafar Ahmed of JP and Mujibul Haque Mujib of AL), Moulvibazar-2 (Nawab Abbas Ali Khan of JP and Ataur Rahman Shamim of AL), Netrakona-4 (Fakir Ashraf of JP and Rebeka Momin of AL), Habiganj-2 (Abid Ali Chowdhury of JP and Abdul Majid Khan of AL), Chittagong-9 (Morshed Murad Ibrahim of JP and Afsarul Amin Chowdhury of AL), Rangpur-4 (Karim Uddin Bharosha of JP and Tipu Munshi of AL), and Kishoreganj-3 (Mujibul Haque Chunnu of JP and Dr Mizanul Haque of AL).

AL’S REBEL CANDIDATES
Former AL lawmaker Mizanur Rahman Manu is contesting the parliamentary polls against grand alliance nominee Abul Hasan Mahmud Ali in Dinajpur-4, Delwar Hossain against Dhirendra Chandra Debnath in Barguna-1, and Emdadul Haque Bhuiyan against Nazrul Islam Babu in Narayanganj-2.

Sardar Amjad Hossain, AL strongman in Rajshahi, is contesting against party nominee Enamul Haque in Rajshahi-4, Abdul Aziz Mollah against Abu Sayeed Al Mahmud Swapan in Joypurhat-1, and Sajjatujjumma against Shafiqul Azam Khan in Jhenidah-3.

Meanwhile, AL district committee has already decided to expel Kabirul Haque Mukti who is contesting the poll in Narail-1 ignoring the party decision.

The other rebel AL candidates are Mahbub Uddin Ahmed (Barisal-5), Khandaker Abdul Baten (Tangail-6), Mobarak Ali Sikder (Shariatpur-1), Dewan Shamsul Abedin (Sunamganj-4), Roshon Ali (Comilla-4), Mamunur Rashid Kiron (Noakhali-3), Mohammad Ali Khokon (Laxmipur-2), Mahfuzur Rahman (Chittagong-16), Imajuddin Pramanik (Naogaon-4), KM Khurram (Sherpur-3), Abdul Hannan Khan (Netrakona-5) and Abdul Quader (Dhaka-15).

Party insiders said the independent candidates seem even stronger than the alliance candidates in many constituencies. They said the four-party alliance would get advantage where rebel AL candidates are contesting independently against alliance nominees.

JP leader Joynul Abedin Sarker is contesting the polls as independent candidate from Lalmonirhat-1, Anwarul Islam from Rangpur-1 and Mohammad Ali Sarker from Rangpur-2. JP leaders have been nominated as grand alliance candidates in these seats.

Two AL leaders are contesting as independent candidates in Gaibandha-3 and Chittagong-4 where JP leaders TIM Fazle Rabbi and Anisul Islam Mahmud have been nominated as grand alliance candidates.