The ruling Awami League yesterday submitted a letter to the Election Commission, saying it had formed an alliance with five parties agreeing to nominate the same candidates in the seats reserved for women in the 10th parliament.
The reserved seats are being distributed among the parties, or alliances, in proportion to total seats won by them in the polls.
Senior Assistant Secretary Farhad Hossain, told the Dhaka Tribune that the Awami League had formed an alliance with the Workers Party, the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD), the Jatiya Party (Manju), the Tariqat Federation, and the Bangladesh Nationalist Front (BNF).
However, the Workers Party and the JSD had earlier submitted letters to the EC, saying that they would not form any alliances with regard to nominating the female MPs.
In this regard, the EC officials concerned said they would acknowledge the last letter.
Meanwhile, the Jatiya Party and an alliance of Independent candidates have informed the commission that they will make their own nominations, Farhad Hossain said, adding that the commission might announce the election schedule this week.
The commission will now publish the list of parliamentary alliances that are supporting the same candidates; once published, the list cannot be changed.
Election Commissioner Mohammad Abu Hafiz yesterday told the Dhaka Tribune that the commission would announce the election schedule of women in reserved seats after completing the related processes of the election.
In the 10th parliamentary polls, the Awami League got 231 seats, while the Jatiya Party (Ershad) got 34, the Workers party got six, the JSD (Inu) got five, the Tariqat Federation got two, the Jatiya Party (Manju) got two, and the BNF got one, and independent candidates got 16.
The number of seats reserved for women was increased to 50 by the 15th amendment of the constitution.