Rashidul Hasan

Two lawmakers-elect of the Gonoforum may take oath and join the 11th parliament, Dr Kamal Hossain said yesterday.

You can call it a typical Jatiya Party flip-flop. Just a day after the JP Parliamentary Party decided to join the Awami League-led grand alliance government, HM Ershad came up with a decision exactly the opposite.

Awami League President Sheikh Hasina yesterday asked her party's newly elected lawmakers not to misuse their position to make a fortune or serve their personal interests.

A day after returning from Singapore, Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad in a sudden move yesterday announced that his party leaders contesting from “open seats” would support the ruling Awami League-led grand alliance candidates.

Air tickets for domestic and international tourist destinations have become scarce since the middle of this month, due to the ongoing rush of holidaymakers.

The Awami League will expedite institutionalising democracy and strengthen the National Human Rights Commission, the Anti-Corruption Commission, the mass media and the judiciary if voted to power for a third straight time.

The Jatiya Oikyafront, if voted to power, will form an all-party truth and reconciliation commission to investigate the extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and false cases of the last 10 years.

The Jatiya Party was going to unveil the final list of candidates at a press conference around 8:00pm yesterday. Journalists and senior JP leaders had already started arriving at the party chief's Banani office for the event.

Two Tarikat Federation leaders are the only Islamic party representatives fortunate enough to get the Awami League's boat as their electoral symbol.

Appearing in public for the first time since November 20, Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad yesterday claimed that he was not being allowed to go abroad for treatment though he was ill.

Just four weeks before the December 30 polls, the Jatiya Party in a sudden move yesterday removed Ruhul Amin Hawlader from the secretary general's post and replaced him with State Minister for LGRD Moshiur Rahman Ranga.

Jamaat has finally decided that its aspirants will contest the December 30 parliamentary election with "sheaf of paddy", the electoral symbol of BNP, party insiders said.

Jatiya Party and other parties of the Awami League-led alliance would now field MP candidates separately, leaving the seat-sharing issue to be solved later, as the deadline for filing nomination papers expires tomorrow.

The ruling Awami League is yet to finalise its seat-sharing with electoral allies despite having a series of meetings with several of them yesterday. The ruling party could not reach a consensus with its ally Jatiya Party, a major component of the grand alliance that won a landslide in the 2008 polls, insiders said.

The Election Commission yesterday finally clarified its position on the use of electronic voting machines in the December 30 national election, saying EVMs would be used in all polling centres of six constituencies.

Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad is likely to meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, also chief of the ruling Awami League, at the Gono Bhaban today amid disagreement between the two parties over seat-sharing, said JP sources.

Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad has been unreachable for most of the party ranks over the last couple of days. He is staying in a house at Gulshan instead of his residence, President Park, in Baridhara.

Around 25 lawmakers from the ruling Awami League may not get party tickets to contest the December 30 national election.

Awami League President Sheikh Hasina yesterday made the MP aspirants from the party promise to accept whoever she nominated for the upcoming election and work together for them.

The Awami League looks all set to lead the largest electoral alliance ever to take on its archrival BNP and main opposition party and combines in the high-stake December election.