With Jatiya Party joining, pro-election camp gets bigger

Highlight: TBS

The Jatiya Party on Wednesday announced that it will participate in the upcoming 12th Jatiya Sangsad (JS) election, making the party's stance clear on the matter after days of indecisions and speculation. 

Jatiya Party Secretary General Mujibul Haque Chunnu said the party will contest the election with candidates in all 300 constituencies without joining any coalition.

"We have decided to join the elections following the assurance of fair polls from the Election Commission and the government," he said at a press briefing held at the party's Banani office in the capital.

In addition to the Jatiya Party, a newly formed three-party political alliance Jukto Front, led by Bangladesh Kalyan Party (Wristwatch symbol), yesterday announced it will join the polls.

Kalyan Party President Major (retired) Syed Muhammad Ibrahim announced the formation of the new coalition at the National Press Club in Dhaka yesterday.

The other two parties of the coalition are — the Bangladesh Muslim League (Kamruzzaman) led by Sheikh Zulfikar Bulbul Chowdhury and the Jatiya Party (Jackfruit symbol).

With this, the number of parties in favour of joining the election gets bigger. So far, 29 of the 44 registered political parties have decided to participate in the election. 

Some 15 parties, including the BNP, remain in the anti-election camp. 

"The election season is at its peak. Many were worried about who will join the election and who will not." 

Obaidul Quader, General Secretary of Awami League

Addressing a meeting with Awami League's sub-committees formed for the upcoming election at the party's Dhaka district office yesterday, the party's General Secretary Obaidul Quader said many more political parties will participate in the polls.

"The election season is at its peak. Many were worried about who will join the election and who will not. Now many are joining, and many more will until the nomination is submitted to the Election Commission. So there is no reason to worry about it," he said. 

Several prominent Jatiya Party leaders have voiced concerns that the Awami League is unwilling to make significant concessions in seat allocation for the upcoming elections. The ruling party is facing constraints in further accommodating the Jatiya Party's demands due to commitments to other allied parties.

A senior Awami League leader said the party's repeated concessions to the Jatiya Party in the past three elections have marginalised many of its own members. 

Additionally, the Awami League is obligated to allocate seats to its 14-party alliance partners, making it difficult to accommodate the Jatiya Party's demands. 

However, many AL leaders said the more seats the party gets in polls, the less the international acceptance of the election will be.

Multiple sources within the Awami League have confirmed the party's intention to contest all 300 seats in the upcoming elections. 

Similarly, the Jatiya Party, BNP, and Trinamool BNP have also declared their plans to field candidates in all constituencies. This will result in a minimum of four parties vying for each seat. Additionally, the newly formed Jukto Front has expressed its intention to contest 100 seats.

Bangladesh Nationalist Movement (BNM) has said it is fully prepared to participate in the elections. The party's leadership expressed confidence in fielding candidates in all 300 constituencies. The party began selling nomination forms on 21 November, and over 100 forms were sold on the first day, according to the party's secretary general Md Shahjahan.

Trinamool BNP, which has announced to field candidates for 300 seats, has sold around 350 nomination forms till Wednesday night. At the same time, the party extended the nomination form sale time by one more day.

While five out of 11 registered Islamic parties have committed to participating in the upcoming elections, the remaining six parties, including Islami Andolan Bangladesh, Bangladesh Khilafat Majlis, and Bangladesh Khilafat Andolan, have yet to make a decision. 

However, some participating parties believe that two to three of these undecided parties may ultimately join the electoral process.

Drama before polls is not new in Jatiya Party

The Jatiya Party's pre-election drama over participating in elections is a recurring theme, with the party having engaged in this charade in all previous elections except the 1996 election. The party typically starts by declaring its intention to sit out the elections, only to reverse course at the eleventh hour.

Founded in 1986, the Jatiya Party is now divided into five groups. Hussain Muhammad Ershad led the main group whose symbol was "Plough". After the fall of Ershad in 1990, some of the top leaders switched boats and mainly went to the BNP and some joined the Awami League. Two more factions occurred later in 1999 and 2014.

Before the 2008 elections, a grand coalition was formed by the Awami League and the Jatiya Party against the four-party alliance. Even though the Jatiya Party got 7% votes in the polls, its allocated seats rose to 27. The Awami League at that time backed the Jatiya Party without fielding a candidate in these seats.

The BNP boycotted the 10th parliamentary election in 2014. The Awami League left 48 seats to the Jatiya Party in that election. Although the party's Founder Ershad abstained from joining the polls, a faction of the party led by Ershad's wife Raushan Ershad joined the polls. The party became the main opposition in the parliament for the first time by winning a total of 34 seats, including 22 unopposed.

The Jatiya Party fielded candidates in 172 constituencies in the 2018 elections. The Awami League did not field candidates in 26 of these seats. 

Jatiya Party Secretary General Mujibul Haque Chunnu yesterday said, "As we have always said, we want an environment of trust for voters to go to the polling stations and vote."

"We have been assured by all the relevant stakeholders including the Election Commission that the election will be free, fair and acceptable. Voters will be able to exercise their right to vote freely. The Election Commission and the stakeholders concerned have reassured us."

The party said it had sold 1,510 nomination forms till Wednesday. The sale and submission of nomination forms will end today.