AL, BNP, JP fail to find single man in many seats

Sagar Biswas :The political parties are allowed to field their candidates under the support of alliance in upcoming Union Parishad election, but the selected candidate will not get scope to use symbol of another party, except his own, Election Commission sources said on Monday. “There may be an understanding among the like-minded political parties on the issue of UP election. They can also work together as an alliance. There is no bar on formation of alliance. But the party candidates will get symbol of their respective parties,” Secretary of the Election Commission [EC] Mohammad Sirajul Islam said.He was talking to newsmen on the last day of nomination submission for the first phase election in 739 union parishads scheduled to be held on March 22. The party symbols will be used for the first time in the local body poll.Yesterday, most chairman aspirants, including candidates of major political parties, including Awami League and BNP, filed their nominations on the last day as the parties had to take huge time in finalising their candidates without any disagreement.Apart from them, many independent candidates filed nominations on the last day for the posts of chairman, member and woman member of reserved seat, officials said. “It will not be possible for EC to conduct investigation if allegation is filed without specifying the accused person. Allegations without specification won’t work. We will not be able to take action against any invisible person,” the EC Secretary further said.BNP recently alleged that their party candidates are facing harassment and compelled to leave their homes being pressured by powerful opponents. In this regard, the EC Secretary said, “It’s a matter of law and order. The law enforcement agencies will take action, if the victims file specific allegation against specific person.”Meanwhile, three major political parties, Awami League, BNP and Jatiya Party, had to face serious trouble in fielding candidate for the UP polls. They changed candidates in different areas even in the eleventh hour of nomination submission yesterday.Especially, the candidates of BNP have expressed their annoyance over selection of party candidates in the election. It is known that, several BNP men have submitted their nomination papers defying objection of party high command. On the other hand, the Jatiya Party has failed to filed their own candidates in all 739 UPs for shortage of interested persons. About 282 Jatiya Party men so far have filed nomination yesterday. The nomination papers will be scrutinised on Tuesday and Wednesday. The last date for the withdrawal of candidature is March 2.The situation is also critical for ruling party Awami League. The AL had finalized its candidates on 19 February. But there is more than one candidate in various UPs.Insiders said, BNP has got more than one candidate in over 100 unions. There are also 22 unions where the party failed to nominate a single candidate. The party could finalise chairman candidates for the 668 unions unanimously. The candidates will be decided from the centre as there is more than one aspirant in each seat.The commission has worked out a plan to arrange elections to 4,275 Union Parishads out of the country’s 4,546 ones in six phases by June.Several BNP leaders from Khulna and Barisal regions have said that they failed to get any potential candidates as the candidates were threatened by ruling party men with new cases against them. Besides, intra-party feud is another reason for which the party failed to get candidates in a number of unions in Barisal including Bakerganj.”The number of interested candidate is high as the local body election is scheduled to take place under party symbol,” BNP joint secretary general who is also involved in selecting the UP candidates, M Shahjahan, said. The EC has planned to hold elections in 4500 UPs within next March to June timeframe making adjustment with the schedule of Higher Secondary Certificate examinations which will begin on April 3. For the first time in the country, the UP elections would be held in partisan basis where Awami League, BNP, Jatiya Party and other political parties are likely to participate fielding their party men with own party symbols.  Sources said around 5 lakh government employees will remain involved during the UP elections and huge number of law enforcers will patrol the poll areas.Earlier, the political parties fielded candidates for mayors of 234 municipalities and other posts of local bodies on party lines and using party symbols in December last year.Sources close to EC said that the EC was divided on some aspects of the code of conduct for the upcoming UP polls. The EC is divided over whether to allow Upazila chairpersons, municipal and city corporation mayors, to campaign during the UP polls, or not. Earlier, the EC imposed bar on MPs from joining the municipal polls campaigns.