The ruling Awami League (AL) has sold a total of 3,362 nomination forms to the party aspirants against all the 300 seats for the upcoming Jatiya Sangsad (JS), earning the party a total of Tk16.21 crore.
The process for sale of nomination forms and submission of forms were started on November 18 and ended on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Awami League will start the process for finalization of party nominations tomorrow (November 23).
Awami League's Office Secretary Barrister Biplab Barua said among them, 121 aspirants purchased their forms online and the rest 3,241 directly from the party’s central office at Bangabandhu Avenue in the capital.
In terms of nomination forms sale, almost 11 candidates are vying to contest as an AL candidate in the upcoming election in each of the 300 constituencies.
In 2018, the AL sold a total of Tk 4,023 nomination forms, which earned it almost Tk 12.07 crore with each form costing at Tk 30,000.
This time, the party sold each forms for Tk 50,000.
Division-wise, this year AL sold 730 forms in Dhaka, 659 in Chattogram, 409 in Rajshahi, 416 in Khulna, 302 in Rangpur, 295 in Mymensingh, 172 in Sylhet, and 258 in Barishal.
On 18 November, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated Awami League's nomination form sale by purchasing her form for Gopalganj-3 constituency.
Meanwhile, the Awami League has called a meeting of the party’s Nomination Board to finalise their candidates for 300 seats in the 12th national elections.
The meeting will start at 11:00am on Thursday (23 November) at the party's Dhaka district office located in Tejgaon and will continue in phases for several days.
Nomination of candidates for the 300 seats in the parliament will be finalised at the nomination board meeting. Party president Sheikh Hasina will chair the meeting.
According to sources, nominations for the parliamentary seats of Rajshahi, Rangpur and Khulna divisions will be finalised on the first day of the meeting.
On November 15, Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal announced the schedule of the 12th national elections.
After that, Awami League started selling party nomination forms on November 18.
Besides, the coordination meeting of the Awami League's National Election Steering Committee formed for the 12th JS polls will be held today (Wednesday).
The meeting will be held at 3pm at the Awami League Dhaka district office located in Tejgaon, said the party's Office Secretary Barrister Biplab Barua in a press release on Monday.
Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader will be present at the meeting as the chief guest. Kazi Zafar Ullah, the co-chairman of the committee, will preside over the meeting.
Biplab Barua said that the coordination meeting will include the conveners and member secretaries of the related sub-committees of the Awami League's Election Steering Committee.
AL held the first meeting of its Election Steering Committee on Friday (17 November), two days after the announcement of the election schedule. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina attended that meeting as the chief guest.
Moreover, the Awami League and its affiliated organisations are going to form committees for each polling centre across the country to create a festive atmosphere and ensure a robust voter turnout in the 12th JS polls.
The formation of committees is nearing completion, according to AL sources, with over one crore local leaders and workers set to serve as members. The committees will spring into action once the list of party candidates is finalised.
As per directives from the party's central leadership, these groups will actively support law enforcers to ensure the security of polling stations, boost voter turnout, and remain in the field to quell the ongoing violence.
A central AL leader said although such committees are formed in every election, this time the party is making more efforts toward increasing their calibre and activities.
Wary of low voter turnout in recent local and by-elections, the party aims to leverage these committees for increased voter participation, with strict instructions from the party president, he noted.
The ruling party's central office is forming a "unit committee" for each of the 42,000 polling centres nationwide, comprising a minimum of 150 members each, according to the party's central sources.
With this, at least 63 lakh leaders and activists will actively participate in these committees. The directive for forming these committees was issued by the central leadership in mid-October.
In addition, the Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student wing of the party, is working to form 20-member committees for each polling station nationwide. These committees will collectively comprise around 8.5 lakh members.
Meanwhile, the Jubo League, Swechasebak League, and Krishak League, three associate bodies of the ruling Awami League, are also in the process of forming separate committees for each polling station.
General secretaries of these three organisations stated that about 20 lakh leaders and activists will be in their committees.
Besides, 34 teams are working in Dhaka city to form "unit committees" for the AL's 139 wards in the capital, said SM Mannan Kochi, general secretary of the AL's Dhaka city north unit.
Awami League Presidium Member Matia Chowdhury said greater importance has been given to establishing robust and transparent committees for every polling station, highlighting their pivotal role in securing victory for the Awami League.
Committee roles
SM Kamal Hossain, organising secretary of the AL, informed The Business Standard that committee lists from each ward are being submitted to local leaders, soon to be forwarded to the central leadership.
Their activities will align with central instructions for a proper electoral process. Once Awami League nominations are finalised, these committees will actively engage voters in supporting the party's symbol, 'Boat,' while highlighting the government's 15 years of development activities.
The committees will assist the law enforcement agencies in maintaining a healthy polling station environment throughout the electoral process, added Kamal Hossain, mentioning that the committees will also work to prevent any opposition attempt to foil the elections.
Committee formation method
According to AL sources, ward presidents and general secretaries are pivotal in forming unit committees, with guidance from relevant MPs and local presidents and general secretaries.
Careful screening is enforced to prevent the inclusion of controversial individuals, including infiltrators, members of anti-independence families, identified drug dealers, and those involved in various crimes.
Controversial inclusions will lead to the responsible leader's duties being revoked.
The emphasis is on including proven party loyalists, believers in the spirit of the liberation war, and accepted progressive individuals from diverse social professions.
The target is to complete the nationwide formation of unit committees by the end of November.
20 lakh online workers
The ruling party is also deploying six lakh new "smart workers" trained from 26 October to November 1 to promote the government's development activities on social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram.
Their primary task is to disseminate information about government activities and foster public opinion against opposition-led violence.
Additionally, the Chhatra League has directed around 8 lakh of its members to engage in similar online activities.
To oversee these efforts, a monitoring cell, led by former secretary Kabir bin Anwar, has been established at the Awami League's central level.