Grand Alliance gives JP 60 seats

A member of the Awami League's Central Working Committee, seeking anonymity, confirmed bdnews24.com of the allotment.

He said the allotment was finalised on Wednesday night at the Ganabhaban after several meetings with the alliance members.

The Awami League move comes as part of its announcement to go ahead with the Jan 5 polls with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the helm amid the BNP-led Opposition's boycott.

Ershad had recently quit the ruling alliance to go alone in the polls and has been critical of the government for quite some time.

But he had let seven of his party members to be part of the 'multi-party' interim government designed to supervise the polls.

On Dec 3, a day after deadline for filing nominations, Ershad had announced boycotting the elections and ordered his party leaders to resign from the polls-time government.

Four seats each have been allotted for the Workers Party and the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, two for Tariqat Federation and one for Anwar Hossain Manju-led Jatiya Party faction.

JaSad will contest from Kushtia-2, Chittagong-7, Brahmanbaria-5, and Feni-1 constituencies, Workers Party from Dhaka-8, Rajshahi-2, Satkhira-1, and Chittagong-1, Tariqat Federation from Chittagong-2, and Laxmipur-1, and Manju's Jatiya Party from Pirojpur-2.

JaSad's Hasanul Haq Inu, Mayeen Uddin Khan Badal and Shah Jikrul Ahmed are the current MPs from the first three of the four seats allotted. Shirin Akhter will contest from Feni-1 against Opposition Leader Khaleda Zia.

Workers Party is getting Satkhira-1 and Chittagong-1 constituencies apart from its chief Rashed Khan Menon's Dhaka-8, and Fazle Hossain Badsha's Rajshahi-2 seats.

Both these parties have been informed of the allocations, said the source with knowledge of the matter.

Menon and JaSad chief Inu were present at Wednesday's meeting.

Speaking to bdnews24.com after the meeting, Menon said: "The election will be held on Jan 5."

Earlier in the day, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had called Hasina and hoped that the election would be held as per the Constitution.

The Awami League and BNP-led coalitions are yet to reach an agreement over the form of polls-time dispensation.

Ershad will contest from the Dhaka-17 constituency. The ruling alliance has allotted his party seats in the districts including Rangpur, Patuakhali, Noakhali, Chittagong, Khulna, Satkhira, Bogra and Habiganj.

On Wednesday, the Election Commission rejected Ershad’s application for withdrawing his candidature from the Dhaka-17 constituency citing that the letter was dated Dec 5.

However, his nomination withdrawal applications for Rangpur, and Lalmonirhat seats were accepted.

The Awami League source said: "This allocation is at the final stage. However, there might be minor changes in the end."