There will be no need for balloting in 151 constituencies for the January-5 10th parliamentary election as only one valid candidate is found in those seats each after the final scrutiny. According to data reaching the Election Commission from across the country as of Saturday 7pm, a total of 149 parliamentary constituencies got lone candidates as the BNP-led 18-party alliance is boycotting the polls.
The number of unopposed winners may rise further and cross 151, a number necessary for forming the government, an EC official told UNB wishing anonymity. Of them, 126 candidates are of the ruling AL, 17 of HM Ershad’s Jatiya Party and one of Anwar Hossain Manju-led Jatiya
Party-JP, three of JSD (Inu) and the rest two of Bangladesh Workers Party. The number of unopposed winners is going to surpass that of the largely-boycotted Feb-15 (1996) controversial election when 49 BNP candidates were elected uncontested. In the Feb-15 (1996) one-sided
election, 49 BNP candidates were elected MP uncontested. The election in 10 constituencies could not be held due to widespread violence. BNP won 279 parliamentary seats out of 290 in the sixth general election as it was largely boycotted. However, no candidate was elected unopposed in the four participatory national elections – 1991 (fifth), 1996 (seven), 2001 (eight) and 2008 (ninth) after the fall of HM Ershad’s autocratic regime. In the scrapped 2007 January 22 election, 18 candidates of BNP were elected uncontested. The election was cancelled after the 1/11 political changeover. In the 1988 fourth national election, 18 candidates were elected uncontested,
while 11 candidates elected unopposed in the 1986 third election. – UNB
