The main opposition in the parliament, Jatiya Party (JP) has finalised its candidates for 289 constituencies for the 12th Jatiya Sangsad (JS) polls slated for January 7, 2024.
Mujibul Haque Chunnu, secretary general of Jatiya Party, announced the names at the party chairperson's office in the capital's Banani area on Monday.
Party Chairperson GM Quader will contest the national election from two seats Dhaka-17 and Rangpur-3, and his wife Sharifa Quader will contest from Dhaka-18.
GM Quader has also been nominated for the Rangpur-3 seat, where Saad Ershad, the son of the late Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad, is the current lawmaker.
The Gopalganj-3 constituency is left vacant as no candidate from the Jatiya Party sought nomination for the seat, which is currently held by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, said the Jatiya Party secretary general.
In the Rangpur-1 constituency, currently represented by Moshiur Rahman Ranga, another party candidate has taken his place.
Jatiya Party's current lawmaker Salim Osman secured his nomination for Narayanganj-5 constituency once again.
However, the party has kept the Mymensingh-4 seat vacant for the party's chief patron, Raushan Ershad.
"Our chief patron has not yet taken her nomination form. This seat has been kept vacant in her honour," said Mujibul Haque Chunnu.
He said, "Decisions on candidates for the remaining seats could not be made due to multiple contenders, he said.
"We will finalise the candidates for those seats within the next 2 to 1 days. Two or one seat may be left vacant,' he added.
Prior to announcing the candidates, Jatiya Party held interviews with prospective nominees of Chattogram, Mymensingh and Dhaka divisions from 11am on Sunday.
The party sold 1,752 nomination forms in four days starting from 21 November.
After 15 years, the Jatiya Party has fielded more than 250 candidates in the national election.
In the first three elections since 1991, it did not participate in the polls under any alliance. However, in the last three elections, it either joined directly AL-led alliance or engaged in seat-sharing arrangements.
Before the 2001 election, the party initially joined the BNP-led 4-party alliance. However, due to alleged pressure from the then AL government, it withdrew from the alliance and contested the polls independently.
It should be mentioned that alongside the Jatiya Party, most of the major political parties, including the ruling Awami League, have already finalized their nominations to their own aspirants.
As per the schedule, the 12th JS polls will be held on January 7, political parties will be able to submit nominations for candidacies till November 30, the EC will scrutinise the nomination forms from December 1-4, appeals against the nominations can be submitted from December 5-6 and nominations need to be withdrawn by December 17.