The partners of the 14-party alliance led by the ruling Awami League have expressed dissatisfaction over the seat-sharing ahead of the 12th parliamentary election slated to be held on 7 January.
Given this situation, alliance coordinator Amir Hossain Amu has initiated informal discussions on behalf of the Awami League regarding the distribution of seats after the process of submitting nomination papers is completed.
On Saturday, some top leaders of the alliance partners visited the residence of the alliance coordinator in Iskaton and engaged in discussions with him.
Amir Hossain Amu also had phone conversations with some leaders, assuring them that there will be a meeting soon with the head of the alliance and Awami League president, Sheikh Hasina.
Sources within the alliance revealed that Amir Hossain Amu requested the list of candidates from the 14-party alliance partners, who submitted nomination papers for various constituencies. He also inquired about the priority seats of the alliance partners, and several parties have already submitted their lists.
Amir Hossain Amu informed Prothom Alo that he has received the list of candidates fielded by the partners, which he forwarded to the party chief. A formal meeting with the alliance partners is expected to be held soon.
According to relevant sources, consideration is being given to partners who currently have members of parliament among the alliance. The Awami League is reportedly not thinking about the others.
Currently, among the 14-party alliance members in the parliament, the Workers' Party has three seats, the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) has three seats, and the Tariqat Federation and the Jatiya Party (JP) have one seat each, totaling eight seats.
Two top leaders of the alliance partners have informed Prothom Alo that there has never been so much uncertainty about the distribution of seats before.
In an attempt to address this uncertainty, some top leaders of the alliance partners took an initiative to meet at a leader's house yesterday, but the meeting was canceled after discussions with Amir Hossain Amu.
However, the partners find themselves in a dilemma regarding how much they can benefit from the seat negotiation process. The Awami League has already sent a message that they will not allocate the seat to JSD general secretary Shirin Akhtar in Feni.
Shirin Akhtar is a two-time member of parliament from Feni-2 constituency, and the Awami League has nominated Alauddin Ahmed Chowdhury, a former executive member of the central committee, for this seat.
Similarly, three-time member of parliament Rashed Khan Menon did not submit nomination papers for the Dhaka-8 constituency. AFM Bahauddin Nasim, the central joint general secretary of the Awami League, is nominated in this seat. However, Menon has submitted nomination papers for two constituencies in Barisal.
Sammobadi Dal general secretary Dilip Barua has submitted nomination papers for the Chattogram-1 constituency. He had communicated with the Awami League leadership that if Mosharraf Hossain from the Awami League does not contest in the polls, he should be considered as a candidate for the alliance. However, Mosharraf's son, Mahabub ur Rahman, has been nominated for this seat.
The Awami League has also fielded candidates in seats previously held by Jatiya Party (JP) president Anwar Hossain Manju and general secretary Sheikh Shahidul Islam. Notably, the Awami League did not put forward a candidate for JSD president Hasanul Haq Inu's seat.
According to alliance sources, the Workers Party, JSD, JP, and Tariqat Federation have prioritised more than 20 seats. They are expected to make efforts to secure 10-12 seats out of this list.
Members within the coalition are expressing dissatisfaction as there has been no meeting with the head of the alliance, Sheikh Hasina, regarding seat-sharing.
Preferring not to be named, several leaders from partner parties said leaders of smaller Islamic parties have been meeting the prime minister at Ganabhaban, but there is no news about the ideological alliance of the 14 parties.
On the contrary, the general secretary of the Awami League, Obaidul Quader, is openly questioning the popularity of the alliance leaders and expressing doubts about continuing the alliance.
Sources within the Awami League indicate that the delay in making decisions about the alliance is part of a strategic approach. There were concerns that the number of participating parties might decrease if an early announcement was made regarding the election being held by coalition.
The main idea of the Awami League is to encourage more parties to participate in the elections and increase voter turnout. With 29 parties currently participating, the ruling party is independent so far.
However, the Awami League is not inclined to make a final decision on the seat agreement until 17 December, the last day of nomination withdrawal.
On the contrary, alliance members argue that the agreement on seats must be reached after the verification of nomination papers on Monday and cannot wait until withdrawal.
They express concern that Awami League's nominated and independent candidates are already gaining control in their respective seats. Consequently, even if seat agreements are reached at the last minute, coalition partners may not be able to benefit.
Rashed Khan Menon, the president of the Workers Party, told Prothom Alo that he is in contact with the coordinator of the 14-party alliance and is hopeful that there will be a meeting with prime minister Sheikh Hasina soon, leading to an agreement.