Having everything in motion, BNP is going to formally start issuing nomination letters on Monday to the candidates its board selected for contesting the forthcoming national election.

 Talking to UNB, a number of senior BNP leaders on Sunday said they may start the distribution process at 10:30am at their chairperson’s Gulshan office, reports the UNB.

‘We’ll formally issue nomination letters tomorrow (Monday),’ said BNP standing committee member Moudud Ahmed.

Another party standing committee member, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, said they have finalised the list of their party candidates. ‘We’re now in discussions with our partners of the Jatiya Oikyafront and the 20-party.’

He said their party standing committee nominated the candidates based on their competence, capability and popularity.

Party insiders said some of its leaders informally received their nomination letters on Sunday night while most of the nomination hopefuls are staying in the capital city to get the party tickets on Monday.

 They said the party may first distribute the nomination letters among the candidates who are from remote districts.

The BNP leaders also hinted that 150-200 nomination seekers will be given party tickets on the first day while the rest will get those later.   

A party standing committee member said they mainly have given importance to BNP’s candidates in the 2001 and 2008 general elections apart from reports on party internal surveys in selecting the contenders for the upcoming national election.    

He said they will also keep some dummy candidates in different seats.

However, the BNP leader said their many old candidates will not get nomination this time in the seats of the capital as many of those will be shared with different components of the Oikyafront and the 20-party alliances.

He said the heavyweight candidates of their two alliances will contest the election in 5-7 seats in the capital.

BNP leaders said they also keep dummy candidates in the seats they will share with their alliance partners.

BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir along with some senior leaders held a meeting at BNP chairperson’s Gulshan office on Sunday night and discussed various issues relating to sharing seats with the alliance partners.

A leader close to Fakhrul said, ‘The BNP leader signed the nomination letters of the 200 selected candidates of the party at the night.’

He said the BNP standing committee decided to share nearly 10 seats with Gano Forum, three each with Nagorik Oikya, JSD and Krishak Sramik Janata League while 40 seats with the 20-party alliance partners.

However, all the alliance partners are demanding more seats.

Of the 20-party partners, Jamaat alone wants at least 35 seats from BNP, but the party is not willing to give the Islamic party more than 25 seats.

Another 20-party component LDP wants six seats, but BNP agrees to share four seats with the party, led by Oli Ahmed.

Besides, BNP decided to share Bhola-1 with BJP chairman Andaleeve Rahman Partho, Chattogram-5 with Kalyan Party Chairman Syed Mohammad Ibrahim, Panchagrah-2 with Jagpa’s Tasmina Prodhan, Niphamari-1 with People’s Party of Bangladesh’s Rita Rahman, Jashore-5 and Sunamganj-3 with Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam’s Mufti Wakkas and Shanur Pasha respectively and Jashore-4 with Minority Janata Party’s Supriti Kumar Mandol.

Besides, the party may share Habiganj-4 with Khelaft Majlish secretary general Ahmed Abul Quader while Narail-2 with NPP’s Fariduzzaman Farhad, Gaibandha-3 with Japa (Zafar) TI Fazle Rabbi and Pirojpur-1 with the same party’s Mostafa Jamal Haider.

Some other alliance partners are also still bargaining with BNP to have at least one more seat, but BNP high-ups are trying to woo them with giving various promises.