Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and nine other parties on Thursday announced their electoral alliance for the upcoming 13th national parliamentary election, deliberately leaving seat vacant for Islami Andolan Bangladesh.
At a press conference held at 9pm at the Diploma Engineers’ Institution (IDEB) auditorium in Dhaka, the alliance unveiled its candidate list for 253 of the 300 parliamentary seats. The remaining 47 seats will be announced later.
Dr Syed Abdullah Md Taher, Nayeb-e-Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami, announced the seat allocations on behalf of the alliance partners. According to the list, Jamaat-e-Islami will contest 179 seats, while the National Citizen Party (NCP) has been allocated 30 seats. Other partners include Bangladesh Khelafat Majlis with 20 seats, Khelafat Majlis 10 seats, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) 7 seats, AB Party 3 seats, Bangladesh Development Party (BDP) 2 seats, and Nezam-e-Islami Party 2 seats.
One of the most-discussed allocations was the Panchagarh-1 seat, covering Sadar, Tetulia, and Atwari. Sarjis Alam, northern chief organizer of NCP, has been named the alliance candidate. Although Rashid Pradhan, spokesperson of JAGPA, was initially expected to contest the seat, he expressed support for SarjisAlam in the interest of the broader alliance.
The press conference, held after prolonged negotiations, was not attended by Islami Andolan Bangladesh, the party of ChormonaiPir. The party has called a separate press conference at its Purana Paltan office in Dhaka at 3pm Friday to explain its final position regarding the seat allocation.
Although Khelafat Andolan and JAGPA were not included in the preliminary list, Dr Taher said discussions regarding KhelafatAndolan are ongoing, and their candidate may be announced later. JAGPA leader Rashid Pradhan has pledged to actively support alliance candidates on the ground.
The press conference was attended by key leaders of the alliance, including: Dr Shafiqur Rahman, Amir of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami; Nahid Islam, Convener of JNP; Maulana Mamunul Haque, Amir of Bangladesh Khelafat Majlis; Colonel (Ret.) Oli Ahmed, President of LDP; Mojibur Rahman Monju, Chairman of AB Party; Anwarul Haque Chan, Chairman of BDP; Professor Ahmad Abdul Kader, General Secretary of Khelafat Majlis; Dr. Hamidur Rahman Azad, Assistant Secretary General of Jamaat; Advocate Ehsanul Mahbub Zubair, along with other top leaders of 10 of the 11 alliance parties.