MUNICIPAL POLLS : Most ruling alliance partners nominate no candidate

Jatiya Samajtantrick Dal faction and Workers Party of Bangladesh nominated 26 and 9 candidates respectively to contest for mayoral posts, while none of the ruling alliance partners but Awami League nominated candidates in 235 municipal polls slated for December 30.
Awami League nominated mayoral candidates for all the 235 municipalities as the alliance partners could not reach any agreement with the Awami League to contest the polls jointly.
Local leaders of the alliance partners showed no interest in contesting the polls realising that they had no chance to win without support of Awami League, said leaders of the parties concerned.
They said that even some potential leaders also did not seek nomination considering the same ground.
A senior leader of JAtiya Samjtantrik Dal faction, led by information minister Hasanul Haq Inu JSD, said that finding no suitable candidates to contest the elections in most of the municipalities, they nominated mayoral candidates for 26 municipalities only to keep the party’s election symbol in the ballots.
Party general secretary Sharif Nurul Ambia said that they had strong candidates in some municipalities but the party could not convince them to contest the elections.
He said that they nominated mayoral candidates for Bheramara, Kushtia, Kumarkhali, Moheshpur, Narail, Pangsha, Alamdanga, Shariatpur, Panchagarh, Jaldhaka, Chatmohar, Chapainawabganj, Nandigram, Jaipurhat, Sundarganj, Nandail, Muktagachha, Gopalpur, Sripur, Kanaighat, Barura, Sharishabari, Bashurhat, Sirajganj, Dirai and Arani municipalities.
Ambia said that Awami League told them that the alliance partners should contest the first ever partisan municipal polls on their own before they could approach AL about contesting the polls jointly.
‘Actually we get nothing from Awami League even after making demand,’ he added.
Workers Party’s politburo member Anisur Rahman Mallik said that they nominated mayoral candidates for Katakhali, Durgapur, Natore, Gurudashpur, Narail, Moulvibazar, Banaripara, Muladi and Gobindaganj municipalities only.
He said that they had prepared a list of candidates to contest the mayoral polls for 19 municipalities but ultimately could field nine candidates as other candidates failed to fulfil the requirements of the Election Commission.
Though the combine claims it as 14-party alliance, in reality, there are now 11  parties — Awami League, Workers Party of Bangladesh, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, Bangladesher Samyabadi Dal, Ganatantri Party, Communist Kendra, Gana Azadi League, National Awami Party, Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal, Ganatantric Majdur Party and Bangladesh Tariqat Federation.
Leaders of other partners said that they could not find suitable candidates to contest the municipal polls.
Tariqat Federation chairman Nazibul Bashar Maizbhandari, however, said that he had information that one candidate of their party submitted nomination to contest Barura municipal poll.
Convener of a party of the alliance said that it was really embarrassing for them that they could not field any candidate to contest the municipal polls.

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