UNB, Dhaka :In its catch-up drive, BNP is going to start sending nomination letters on Tuesday to its selected mayoral aspirants to contest the December-30 municipal polls as the party has completed over 80 percent of its candidate selection job as of Monday, party insiders said.Senior party leaders said most of their candidates will file their nomination papers on December 3 (Thursday), the last date for submission of candidature as per the election schedule. They, however, said the party high command is yet to reach any understanding with its alliance partners over sharing the number of mayoral posts as most alliance partners, including Jamaat and name-only ones, are demanding more than the party has kept aside for them.Talking to UNB, a BNP standing committee member wishing anonymity said they want to share 23-25 mayoral posts or 10 percent of the total 236 posts with their alliance partners. “We’ve decided to share eight percent with Jamaat and two percent with other partners. But they’re seeking nearly 50 mayoral posts which are too many for us to give up.”He, however, said they will be able to reach a negation with their alliance partners by Tuesday as their party chief directly dealing with it with the alliance partners. The BNP policymaker said almost all but Jamaat is willing to contest the election with BNP’s election symbol ‘sheaf of paddy’. “Jamaat is stuck to putting its mayoral candidates as independent ones.”He said, though they will give nomination to a party leader or alliance leader in each municipality to vie for a mayoral post in favour of BNP or the alliance, BNP will also put alternative or dummy mayoral candidates in all municipalities so that they can replace if any one’s nomination is cancelled during scrutiny.Contacted, BNP standing committee member Gayeshwar Chandra Roy said, “We’ve almost completed selecting our party’s candidates in consultation with our grassroots leaders. We’ll also keep our alternative candidates in all municipalities so that the government can’t put us in trouble by cancelling nomination of our nominated candidates using the Election Commission.”But, he said, they will not disclose the names of the alternative candidates for strategic reasons. “If the nomination of our any candidate is cancelled for any reason, we’ll then extend our support to our alternative candidate.” Sought comments, BNP vice chairman Abdullah Al Noman said they have decided to join the municipality election as part of their movement strategy and invigorate party men through the polls.He said, their party leaders have completed over 80 percent of tasks of selecting party’s candidates to vie for the mayoral posts in the elections. The BNP vice chairman said most of their candidates are likely to submit their nominations on Thursday for strategic reasons.Asked whether their chairperson will join electioneering in favour of BNP’s candidates, Noman said she may not go to the grassroots level or any particular municipality for election campaign due to security reasons. “We’re planning to hold a big rally in any district adjacent to Dhaka in mid-December to be addressed by our chairperson. But, it’ s still at planning level, not finalised yet.”BNP assistant office secretary Shamimur Rahman Shamim said they are preparing nomination letters to send those to their selected mayoral candidates.Another senior leader preferring anonymity said they will start sending the nomination letters to their candidates on Tuesday. He said party joint general secretary M Shahjahan with the help of some other central leaders, including assistant publicity secretary Emaran Saleh Prince, are preparing the nomination letters.
