The New Nation - Internet Edition

Bdnews24.com, Dhaka

Just days ahead of the national vote, the two major electoral alliances headed by Awami League and BNP are still suffering 'double candidate syndrome', leaving constituents in a quandary over splitting the vote.

The grand alliance has both AL and Jatiya Party hopefuls in some 15 seats around the country, while the four-party alliance has both BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami candidates contesting at least four seats. After drawn-out negotiations last month between AL president Sheikh Hasina and JP chairman HM Ershad, the grand alliance allocated 46 seats to JP and another three seats, Sylhet-3, Khulna-3 and Nilfamari-4, kept open for both parties to contest.

But after the deadline for withdrawal of candidacy, both AL and JP candidates remained in 15 seats, with voters voicing their dilemma as no compromise appears to have been reached to date.

Dhaka-5 sees JP's Syed Abu Hossain Babla and AL's Habibur Rahman Mollah contesting, the latter with a court order.

AL supporters of the area believe that two candidates of the grand alliance competing against each other will give an advantage to the BNP candidate for the seat.

Ershad has repeatedly called for AL to withdraw its candidates from the disputed seats saying they were promised to his party under the alliance's seat-sharing deal and accusing AL of breaching that deal. Co-chairman of AL's election coordination committee, HT Imam, however says efforts are still underway to settle these problems.

"As candidacy cannot be withdrawn now, one will be kept while the other will be made inactive," he told bdnews24.com on Monday.

He said that problems with dual candidacy for Mymensingh-4 and Chittagong-9 have been settled. "For Mymansingh-4, AL's candidate Professor Motiur Rahman has been finalised and JP will be inactive. In return, JP will contest from Gaibandha-5 where AL candidate Fazle Rabbi will become inactive." For Chittagong-9, JP's Morshed Murad Ibrahim has been finalised and AL's Absarul Amin will stay inactive, while in Moulavibazar-2, JP's Nawab Ali Abbas will be the grand alliance candidate instead of AL's Ataur Rahman Shamim.

In Dinajpur-6, JP candidate Delwar Hosain was given the go-ahead by the grand alliance but in this seat, AL candidate Azizul Huq is still continuing with his campaign. The same has happened in Rangpur-4 where Karimuddin Bharsha was given nomination but AL candidate Tipu Munshi is still contesting under the boat symbol.

Rangpur-5 sees JP's S M Fakhruzzamans's pitted against AL's H N Ashiqur Rahman. Kurigram-4 sees JP's Golam Habib Dulal's competing with AL's Zakir Hossain.

In other seats the situation looks like this: in Gaibnadha-4 JP's Mohammad Ali Talukder faces AL's Monwar Hossain Chowdhury; in Gaibandha-5 JP's Rawshan Ershad runs up against AL's Fazle Rabbi; in Sirajganj-2 JP's Aminul Islam Jhontu goes up against AL's Jannat ara Henri; in Pirojpur-1 JP's Mostafa Jamal Haider is pitted against AL's AKM Awal; in Kushtia-4, JP's Abdul Awal faces AL's Sultana Tarun; in Comilla-11 JP's Kazi Zafar Ahmed runs against AL's Mujibul Huq; in Chittagong-9 JP's Morshed Murad faces AL's Absarul Amin; in Habiganj-2 JP's Abid Ali runs against AL's Abdul Majid Khan; in Munshiganj-3 JP's Mujibur Rahman goes up against AL's Idris Ali; in Netrokona-2 Fakir Ashraf is pitted against against AL's Ashraf Ali Khan; in Mymensingh-4, another of Rawshan Ershad's seats, she faces AL's Professor Motiur Rahman.

Meanwhile, BNP and Jamaat of the four-party alliance are contesting separately in at least four seats: Chapainawabganj, where BNP's Md Harun-Ur-Rashid is competing against Jamaat's Md Lotifur Rahman; in Rajshahi-3 BNP's Kabir Hossain runs up against Jamaat's Ataur Rahman; in Sirajganj-4 BNP's M Akbar Ali faces Jamaat's Rofiqul Islam Khan; in Meherpur BNP's Masud Arun is pitted against Jamaat's Samiruddin.