Awami League candidates

Train services between Dhaka and the northern districts remained suspended for around an hour yesterday as the supporters of an Awami League aspirant blockaded rail link demanding his party ticket for the December 30 polls.

Awami League leader Lt Col (retd) Faruk Khan says that the cancellation of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s nomination papers for Feni-1 proves that level-playing field is prevailing in the country for the upcoming general election.

Some lawmakers of the ruling Awami League and its allies had a huge increase in their moveable property over the last decade, their affidavits show.

With a "forward-looking" vision focusing mainly on the young generation, the ruling Awami League is likely to unveil its election manifesto either on December 12 or 13.

A man was killed and more than 40 others were injured in violence over nomination in several districts yesterday.

Prof Abu Sayeed, former Awami League state minister for information, joined the Gonoforum, a component of the Jatiya Oikyafront, yesterday and collected the party's nomination form to contest the upcoming national polls from Pabna-1.

The ruling Awami League picked around 50 new faces to run for the upcoming parliamentary polls and dropped 38 MPs as it handed out nomination letters to its aspirants for 248 constituencies yesterday.

Some controversial Awami League lawmakers got party tickets for the upcoming election.

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.

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

Some incumbent Awami League lawmakers and top leaders are unlikely to get party nomination this time, as the ruling party has decided to part with controversial and unpopular candidates, multiple sources have said.

It is for the Election Commission, not for the government, to ensure a level-playing field for the election, Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader said yesterday.

Jatiya Oikyafront yesterday demanded that the Election Commission defer the election, set for December 30, by three more weeks. But the ruling Awami League termed the proposal illogical and urged the commission to stick to its schedule.

Mahi B Chowdhury, a top leader of Juktofront, says his alliance wants to contest the 11th general elections under 14-party combine led by ruling Awami League.

Awami League will have no objection if the Election Commission (EC) defers the election date following demands from different political parties and alliances.

The ruling Awami League starts selling the party’s nomination papers for the 11th parliamentary election.

The BNP yesterday submitted a list of 1,046 “fictitious cases” filed against its leaders and activists to the Prime Minister's Office.

So far, ten parliamentary elections were held in Bangladesh, of which three—the 1988 election during the Ershad regime, the February 15, 1996 election under the BNP government, and the January 5, 2014 election under the Awami League-led Grand Alliance government—were one-sided.

Hours before Jatiya Oikyafront's maiden rally on Registrar's office ground in Bandarbazar area, ruling Awami League men from across the city started gathering in processions at Court Point, around 100 feet away from Oikyafront's venue.