Awami League on Sunday informed the Election Commission (EC) that it has forged an alliance with six political parties to contest the elections to parliamentary seats kept aside for women.AL election conducting committee member Riazul Kabir Kawsar submitted a list of 247 MPs of the alliance to the EC Secretariat to count them as voters of the upcoming elections to the 50 reserved seats.The AL-led six-party alliance has been forged with Bangladesh Workers’ Party, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (Jasad), Anwar Hossain Monzu-led Jatiya Party (JP), Bangladesh Tarikat Federation and Bangladesh Nationalist Front (BNF). “We’ve submitted a list of 247 MPs of our alliance to the Election Commission. Now the commission will finalise the allocation of the reserved seats for the alliance,” Kawsar told UNB.Out of the current 297 MPs, AL has got 231, while Workers’ Party six, Jasad five, JP and Tarikat two each, and BNF one. Besides, HM Ershad-led Jatiya Party has got 34 while independent 16.The commission is yet to publish the names of two AL candidates who won the January 5 parliamentary elections from Jessore-1 and Jessore-2 constituencies in the official gazette as separate legal cases are now pending with the High Court over the violation of the election code of conduct.Out of the country’s 300 constituencies, Tangail-8 seat fell vacant with death of elected MP Shawkat Momen Shahjahan. As per the law, the AL-led six-party alliance will contest 41 reserved seats against its 247 votes.Jatiya Party and independent candidates also informed the commission about their number of voters within the deadline that expired on Sunday. The EC is most likely to announce the election schedule for the reserved seats this week.
