Raushan Ershad, GM Quader face to face, send seperate letters to EC

Internal conflict of Jatiya Party (JaPa) has again come to limelight ahead of the 12th Jatiya Sangsad election.

Two separate letters were sent to the Election Commission (EC) from JaPa on Saturday ahead of the election. One letter was sent by the party’s chief patron and leader of the opposition in parliament Raushan Ershad, while the other letter was sent by the party’s Chairman Golam Mohammad Quader.

In his letter to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), JaPa chairman GM Quader says that the JaPa chairman would nominate the party candidates in the parliamentary polls and allocate election symbols as he has been empowered to give nomination to the party candidates.

On the other hand, the letter sent by Raushad Ershad mentions that the JaPa has decided to contest the election as a component of Awami League-led Grand Alliance this time like the previous three parliamentary polls. It will just be an electoral alliance. Following the election, the elected members of JaPa will follow the party decisions. The JaPa nominated candidates will be able to use the party symbol of ‘Plough’ in the election, or they will be able to contest the election being the part of Grand Alliance.

If any party wants to use the alliance symbol taking part in the Jatiya Sangsad election as an alliance component, it will have to submit a prayer to the Election Commission within three days after the announcement of election schedule. The schedule of 12th parliamentary election was announced on Wednesday last. So, Saturday was the last day to inform the EC about it.

On the other hand, registered political parties will have to inform the EC in written under whose signatures they intend to nominate the party candidates. The EC has sent a letter to the registered political parties to inform it within seven days following the announcement of the schedule. In response, the JaPa secretary general stated in his letter that the party chairman GM Quader would nominate the JaPa candidates. As an empowered authority, the JaPa also sent GM Quader’s name, designation and sample signatures to the EC.