Jatiya Party contesting in election under Awami League-led Grand Alliance

The Jatiya Party has decided to contest in the general elections under the Awami League-led Grand Alliance.

Secretary General ABM Ruhul Amin Howlader announced the decision on Tuesday.

The Jatiya Party went to the elections under the Grand Alliance as well in 2008. The party, however, used its plough logo to draw votes.

It became the main opposition in parliament after the BNP, the archrival of the ruling Awami League, stayed away from the last parliamentary polls in 2014.

The BNP and its allies have decided to contest in the ballot this time, forcing the Jatiya Party to refrain from nominating candidates separately.

Howlader, speaking to reporters at party chief HM Ershad’s office in Dhaka’s Banani, said they expect a ‘fair’ share of the parliamentary seats for nominating their candidates.

“I hope the allies (in the Grand Alliance) will get the seats they expect. Everything will be finalised through discussions,” he said.   

Ershad went to the talks with Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina recently with expectations to push the ruling 14-Party coalition for more seats in parliament.

“We have submitted a list of 100 seats. We should get 70 of these,” Ershad had said.

Ershad inaugurated the distribution of the party’s nomination forms on Sunday.

He bought nomination forms for the Dhaka-17, Rangpur-4, and Satkhira-4 constituencies while his wife, the party’s Senior Co-chairman and Leader of the Opposition in Parliament Raushon Ershad collected the form for Mymensingh-4.

Jatiya Party Co-Chairman and Ershad’s brother GM Quader is vying for the party’s nomination from Dhaka-18.

He told reporters that the Grand Alliance would complete the allocation of seats "as soon as possible".

“The list of candidates will be finalised after close scrutiny,” he added.

Quader also hoped that the Grand Alliance would defeat the BNP and its allies in the election.

“The Jatiya Party has votes reserved in all the seats. These will play the key role in the contest. The path to win for the Grand Alliance candidates will be easy if the Jatiya Party remains with the Awami League in it,” he said.

In the 2008 elections, the Awami League won 230 and the Jatiya Party 27 after they had nominated 264 and 49 candidates respectively.

The Awami League won 234 seats after nominating 247 in the 2014 elections boycotted by the BNP. The Jatiya Party contested in 86 seats and won 34 in that election.

The Jatiya Party sold 1,986 nomination forms in three days.