All eyes are focused on who will receive the ruling party’s nominations for the 12th parliamentary election. The announcement is due Sunday, following a series of party meetings chaired by Awami League President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Party insiders have said that the Awami League had finalized 300 party candidates for all constituencies across the country by last night.
Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader said the party will formally declare the names of the 300 party candidates on Sunday afternoon.
However, the ruling party has not yet disclosed how it will incorporate the candidates’ names from its allied parties, who will contest the polls with the Awami League's electoral symbol boat, as in the previous three elections.
As this report was being prepared last night, the Awami League Parliamentary board meeting was in progress. It was not clear whether or not the Awami League would declare the names of the party candidates along with those of its alliance partners.
Four political parties have already informed the Election Commission that they want to take part in the upcoming national election in alliance with the ruling Awami League. These parties are Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, Samyabadi Dal, Jatiya Party (JP-Monju), and the Workers Party.
Nomination changes are expected to be fewer than 10%, according to party sources. Most ruling party MPs from the 11th parliament are expected to receive party nominations for the 12th parliamentary election as well.
Several sources claim that at least 25 new faces are replacing the current MPs of the Awami League. Among the new faces are a group of Awami League central working committee leaders, including Jahangir Kabir Nanok, Abdur Rahman, AFM Bahauddin Nasim, Dr. Shammi Ahmed, celebrity cricketer Shakib Al Hasan, actor Ferdous Ahmed, and former bureaucrat Abul Kalam Azad, according to sources.
However, parliamentary board members said names can be dropped or changed before the final declaration.
In some constituencies, there is only a single candidate seeking nomination from the Awami League. For example, party supporters collected nomination forms for Awami League President Sheikh Hasina from Gopalganj-3 and Rangpur 6. Sheikh Hasina usually leaves the Rangpur-6 seat for the Speaker of the Parliament Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury.
The other single candidates include Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader, Presidium Member Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, Awami League nomination board member Abul Hasanat Abdullah, Chief Whip of parliament Nur e Alam Chowdhury, senior Awami League leader Sheikh Helal Uddin, Rail Minister Nurul Islam Sujan, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, State Minister for Power and Energy Nasrul Hamid Bipu, Narayanganj Awami League Leader Shamim Osman, Prime Minister’s relative Sheikh Salahuddin, and Sheikh Tonmoy.
Evidently no changes are foreseen in these constituencies in the 12th parliamentary nomination sheet.
Many names of candidates have been spreading on social media since the Awami League nomination board started finalizing party candidates from Thursday.
Candidates’ supporters are spreading varied information about who may get nominations from the Awami League. When this correspondent tried to talk with some nomination board members, they declined to make any comments about the party nominations and suggested waiting for the official declaration.
On Friday, while talking with journalists, Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader said that the list of Awami League-led candidates for 300 seats for the 12th parliamentary elections will be announced by Sunday.
"The Awami League will announce the final list of nominated candidates by Sunday," said Quader, who is also the road transport and bridges minister, at the Awami League President Sheikh Hasina's political office in Dhanmondi.
"I will finally be able to announce the list of candidates for 300 seats by Saturday or Sunday. Many fresh faces have been nominated while some have dropped out. We have not debarred winnable candidates," Quader added.
Some current parliament members of the Awami League have dropped out of the electoral race, he said. On the other hand, young people, who have acceptability with the people, are ahead in this race.
The matter of "acceptability with the common people" has been given the most importance in picking candidates, he continued.
Prime Minister and Awami League President Sheikh Hasina has invited the party’s nomination seekers for the next general election to a meeting at Ganabhaban.
Beginning at 10am on Sunday, she will exchange views with the aspirants, the party said in a media release on Friday.
They have been asked to bring photocopies of their national identity cards and copies of nomination submission forms.
Previously the Awami League used to invite all nomination seekers before finalising the party nominations, but this time the Awami League board has finalized the selection of all candidates on the basis of several survey reports. Party nomination seekers have been invited to get instructions from the Awami League President on working unitedly to ensure the victory of the party’s candidates, irrespective of who the candidates are.