DHAKA — BNP will not make significant changes to the list of 237 candidates it announced Nov. 3 for the 13th national parliament election, party sources said, even after protests by supporters of nominees passed over in some seats.
The party is monitoring the situation in the affected constituencies, the sources said. BNP’s top leadership believes that any local problems will gradually settle down, and the announced list will not be substantially altered. Some adjustments may be made in one or two seats if conditions warrant, but no more than that.
Meanwhile, BNP will quickly decide how to allocate seats to its partners in the anti-fascist simultaneous movement, the sources said. The party is also weighing whether to require alliance partners to contest under their own party symbols, as the amended Representation of the People Order requires — a factor in how the seat-sharing discussions will proceed. The matter has been treated as a priority alongside candidate selection.
The party’s standing committee met Monday at the chairperson’s political office in Gulshan, and senior leaders including standing committee members have held informal meetings in recent days where the issues were discussed, sources said. Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman participated virtually in those meetings or was kept informed.
Multiple BNP sources said the party is using neutral institutions to check the standing of nominees on the announced list in the seats not in dispute. After that vetting, some changes could be made to the preliminary list based on the situation, but not many, sources said. The party’s position is that BNP is a large political party and problems in one or two places are inevitable, the sources said, and party efforts are gradually resolving them.
Standing committee member Salahuddin Ahmed said: “BNP is a large political party. There may be problems on candidate selection in one or two seats. The party has taken some initiatives. Things are being sorted out gradually. We expect that as a result, everyone in each area will soon unite and work to get the party’s candidate elected.”
BNP’s standing committee at its latest meeting also discussed the July National Charter alongside the question of seat allocation for alliance partners, sources said. A decision is expected soon. The party has not yet made a decision on how many seats to concede to allies in the simultaneous movement, which has left would-be candidates from those parties anxious. With a handful of exceptions, most alliance partners have not received a nomination guarantee, leaving many unable to fully work their constituencies. Those candidates want BNP to confirm nominations quickly so they can campaign at full strength.
BNP has set aside seats for its own candidates among the 63 seats left blank in the original announcement, sources said. In the 11th parliament election, the party gave alliance partners 59 seats; this time it is considering 25 to 30. In the upcoming election, BNP will mainly weigh the chances of winning when conceding seats — in Dhaka and other regions — to allies who have a strong chance of winning. The number of seats conceded could rise further, depending on the size of the BNP-led electoral alliance. BNP may also adjust the announced list of 237 candidates in places to accommodate alliance partners.
As part of the seat-sharing process, most allies in the simultaneous movement have already submitted their candidate lists at BNP’s request, sources said. So far, partners have submitted 103 names. The Ganatantra Mancha has not yet submitted a list, but talks with BNP are continuing. The six-party alliance is seeking a “settlement” with BNP for about half a hundred seats.
Sources said BNP has drawn up a short list from the partners’ submissions based on viability. The party’s policy-makers are weighing the candidacies of important allied leaders. To finalize the allies’ seats, BNP’s acting chairman will soon hold a virtual meeting with the party’s liaison committee. Liaison committee leaders will then meet partners formally. Late Wednesday, a senior member of BNP’s standing committee held an informal meeting with the nationalist Samamana alliance, sources said.
BNP’s talks with the National Citizen Party (NCP), formed by student leaders of the July uprising, on seat-sharing are also continuing, sources said. The standing committee discussed the issue at its latest meeting. Most BNP leaders expressed reluctance to form an electoral alliance or reach a seat-sharing arrangement with the NCP. A standing committee member told Kalbela: “Talks have been held with BNP’s allies in the simultaneous movement, and with other parties who were in the democratic struggle outside of it — including some Islamic parties and others. We want to form an alliance and contest the election with them. After the great Liberation War of 1971, through the mass uprising of the 1990s, students were always at the forefront of every movement. After the movement ended, the students went back to their studies; they did not become part of the government. But after the 2024 mass uprising, the students have become part of the current government, and various allegations have been raised about them. If BNP did the same now, that would not be right.”
Even as he denied the talks with the NCP, Salahuddin would not rule out a settlement. “Whether we will form an alliance with the NCP, or whether they will form an alliance with us and contest the election — no such proposal has come from them, and none has gone from us,” he said. “But you cannot just dismiss the possibility of such a settlement or alliance either. We will have to wait and see.”
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report