The Jatiya Oikyafront and the BNP-led 20-party alliance will initially field multiple candidates all the 300 constituencies to avoid the risk of going to the polls without their contenders in some seats.

They have decided to employ this tactic keeping in mind that the Returning Officers (RO) might cancel some nomination papers during scrutiny on legal or technical grounds.

Sources in the Oikyafront, a combine of the BNP and several other parties, and the 20-party said they would nominate a panel of three to five candidates in each constituency for filing nomination papers.

The alliances will then pick a single candidate for each constituency on or before December 9, the last date for withdrawal of candidacies, and inform the RO of their decision in writing.

Political parties are allowed to do so under section 16 (2) of the Representation of the People's Order, the law that regulates elections.

Parties have until November 28 to file nomination papers.

In the 11 days between November 28 and December 9, alliance leaders will discuss and negotiate about their final nominee, said the sources, adding that they would focus on competence rather than the candidates' party affiliation.

“All the parties have agreed in principle to field winnable candidates. Which party is getting more seats is not in our consideration,” BNP Standing Committee Member Moudud Ahmed told The Daily Star yesterday. 

"Our focus is on competent candidates. We will accommodate competent candidates no matter which party they belong to,” he added.

Col (retd) Oli Ahmed, coordinator of the 20-party alliance, echoed Moudud's view.

“I told them [alliance partners] in clear terms that it's not certain that they would be offered seats just because they have a party. I also told them that it is not possible for the BNP to set aside a large number of seats to the alliance partners depriving its own leaders," said Oli, also president of Liberal Democratic Party, a 20-party component.

Talking to The Daily Star yesterday, a number of senior leaders of the two alliances said their target was to bag at least 151 seats, the minimum number required to form government.

Two senior leaders of the BNP, a key component of both the alliances, said they were planning to field dummy candidates alongside party candidates in several dozen constituencies.

These candidates will run as independents to ensure presence of more party men in the polling stations.

The Awami League is considering to field dummy contenders in all the 300 constituencies.

Every candidate can appoint one agent in each booth. The polling agents remain present in the booth during voting and counting.

"This will ensure our strong presence in every polling station," a senior BNP leader said.

The party has already urged grassroots leaders and activists to form polling station-based committees to guard some 42,000 voting centres.

Yesterday, Oikyafront leader Dr Kamal Hossain himself urged the supporters to guard polling stations. 

Meanwhile, the BNP high-command asked its grassroots not to engage in any confrontation with law enforcers.

"We urged our grassroots leaders not to fall into any trap by countering police action. We asked them to avoid conflicts till the election," a senior BNP leader said.

MEETING THE ASPIRANTS

The BNP's parliamentary board starts meeting the party nomination-seekers from today.

As many as 4,580 BNP aspirants collected nomination forms in the last five days since Monday. In the 2008 election, 3,186 BNP hopefuls collected nomination forms.

The AL has sold 4,037 nomination forms this time.

Today, the BNP parliamentary board will interview nomination-seekers from Rangpur and Rajshahi divisions.

It will sit with the aspirants from Barisal and Khulna divisions on November 19; those from Chattogram, Cumilla and Sylhet divisions on November 20 and those from Mymensingh, Faridpur and Dhaka divisions on November 21.

At a meeting on Friday night, the BNP standing committee decided that no standing committee member would contest from more than one constituency, sources said.