For the first time in history, at least 109 candidates nominated by the Awami League and its allies are set to be elected uncontested as there are no contenders in their respective constituencies.
Out of a total of 109 unopposed candidates till filing this report, 95 candidates are from Awami league, 11 from Jatiya Party (Ershad), two from JP-Manju and one from the Workers Party of Bangladesh.
The record of elected uncontested will be broken in the upcoming 10th parliamentary elections. In the controversial February 1996 elections, 49 candidates were elected uncontested.
No candidate from the opposition BNP and its allies submitted their nomination papers for the 10th parliamentary polls.
Those to be declared elected uncontested include Fazle Rabi Miah (Gaibandha 5), Shamsul Alam Dudu (Joypurhat 1), Mohammad Nasim (Sirajganj 1), Tofail Ahmed (Bhola 1), Abul Hasnat Abdullah (Barisal 1), Amir Hossain Amu (Jhalakathi 2), Abdur Razzak (Tangail 1), Abdul Latif Siddiqui (Tangail 4), Promod Mankin (Mymensingh 1), Syed Ashraful Islam (Kishoreganj 1), Mirza Azam (Jamalpur 3), Qamrul Islam (Dhaka 2), Shamim Osman (Narayanganj 4), Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury (Faridpur 2), Shawkat Ali (Shariatpur 2), AMA Muhith (Sylhet 1), Suranjit Sengupta (Sunamganj 2), Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir (Chandpur 1), Dipu Moni (Chandpur 3), Obaidul Quader (Noakhali 5) of the Awami League.
Unconfirmed sources said Fazle Nur Taposh (Dhaka 10), Rashed Khan Menon (Dhaka 8), Jahangir Kabir Nanak (Dhaka 13), Saber Hossain Chowdhury (Dhaka 9) have also been elected uncontested.
Awami League’s key ally Jatiya Party has announced not to participate in the polls and asked its candidates to withdraw their candidature. Jatiya Party Chief HM Ershad has formally requested the Election Commission not to allocate the party’s electoral symbol plough to anyone for the January 5 elections.
According to an Election Commission report, a number Jatiya Party candidates had not withdrawn their candidature, violating their party chief’s instruction.
EC sources said the returning officer did not accept the withdrawal applications of the Jatiya Party candidates, including Ershad. However, in the constituencies which the Awami league left to the 14-party alliance candidates, the returning officer accepted the Awami League candidates’ nominations.
As of Friday, a total of 101 parliamentary constituencies got lone candidates, EC data showed.
In sixth parliamentary elections held on February 15 in 1996, 49 BNP candidates were elected uncontested as they were the lone candidates after EC scrutiny of their nomination papers. BNP won 279 seats out of 290. Elections to 10 parliamentary constituencies were not held due to unavoidable circumstances.
Apart from BNP, all other major political parties, including the Awami League, boycotted the sixth parliamentary polls.
However, after the resumption of parliamentary democracy in 1991, there was no uncontested candidate in any of the elections except for 1996.
In the fourth parliamentary polls in 1988, 18 candidates were elected uncontested. 1,192 candidates from eight political parties participated in the polls.
Meanwhile, the Awami League has sent a letter to the Election Commission asking for allocation of the boat symbol to 10 of the nominated candidates from the 14-party alliance.
Of the 10, four are from the Workers Party of Bangladesh, four from the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal and two from Tarikat Federation.
In another development, Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad yesterday said ensuring participation of all political parties in the upcoming 10th parliamentary elections was going to be difficult.
“But there are always scopes. If all reach a logical decision regarding the polls, they will have to tell the commission how to step forward,” he told reporters.
On allocating plough as the symbol for Jatiya Party candidates, the CEC said it was the responsibility of the returning officers to allocate symbols as per the electoral laws.
