Drafting the election manifesto, activating the organisational network, stepping up mass contact and preliminary selection of probable candidates are high on the party programmes.

The party is virtually going for pre-election campaigns from the very beginning of the new year as the coalition government led by it has only about 10 months of its tenure.

BNP Secretary General and LGRD Minister Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan told The Daily Star since the current is considered as the election year, his party has naturally started preparations for the polls. He hoped to see a change of government through a free and fair election.

BNP programmes
As part of a countrywide mass contact, the BNP will hold grand rallies in the six divisional headquarters by June with the first one in Chittagong on January 8.

The party also plans to hold division-wise extended meetings towards the middle of this year to give its grassroots level leaders and activists directions about campaigning for the next elections.

Schedules for public meetings across the country to be addressed by party Chairperson and Prime Minister Khaleda Zia have been made. She is likely to introduce prospective party candidates for the elections from many of those meetings.

Sources close to the BNP high command said the party has worked out a pre-election campaign strategy. It is giving more importance to those areas where large-scale development work has taken place and where the party lawmakers have a strong footing. Besides, the constituencies where its coalition partners have vote banks are also getting increased attention.

The BNP leadership is now preparing a new set of election pledges to be presented before the people through the public meetings to get their mandate. The PM in her address at a Natore public meeting on December 28 pledged that if re-elected, the ruling coalition will make education for female students free up to degree level.

Seat Sharing
In the 2001 polls, the BNP's coalition partners ran for 48 parliament seats -- Jamaat-e-Islami 31, Bangladesh Jatiya Party 14 and Islami Oikya Jote 3.

Sources close to the BNP policy makers said that as in the previous election, they want their allies to contest the next polls for around 50 seats. But in case the Jatiya Party (JP) led by HM Ershad joins the coalition, the BNP might agree to raise the number of seats to 60 for its coalition partners.

One policy maker on condition of anonymity said the party favours allotting the same number of seats to Jamaat in the next elections as in the last one. In the wake of rise of militancy and Jamaat's alleged links to it, the party is not in a position to bargain on that.

A number of senior BNP leaders believe the JP should be brought in the coalition and given more seats than Jamaat in contesting the polls. The JP should be given at least 20 of the 22 seats in greater Rangpur, the party's strong base in some parts of greater Sylhet should also be taken note of. "If JP (Ershad) is included in the coalition, it is sure to attain better results in the coming elections, " one leader said.

Coalition might expand
The BNP-led alliance is likely to expand in the next elections. Apart from JP (Ershad), a number of Islamic parties might join the coalition. Besides, a number of leaders from the opposition parties might switch over to the BNP before the election, sources said without giving details.

New Faces

The BNP is likely to field freshers in some 25 constituencies in the next polls. They include retired high government officials, former student leaders including those of BNP's student wing, the JCD, and businessmen.

The BNP chairperson's office Hawa Bhaban has already prepared a list of such candidates and surveyed their positions in their respective constituencies. They include BNP's Office Secretary Mafiqul Hasan Tripti from Jessore-1, who is to replace Ali Kadar, Vice President of Jatiyatabadi Juba Dal Qayum Chowdhury from Sylhet-3 replacing Safi Ahmed Chowdhury, former JCD president Golam Sarwar Milon from Manikganj -4 replacing Shamsul Islam Khan, MM Sahin (who won the seat as an independent candidate in last polls) from Moulavibazar-2, former JCD joint conveyor ABM Mosharraf Hossain from Patuakhali-4, former Chhatra Union president Mostafijur Rahman Babul from Jamalpur-3, Cabinet Secretary ASM Abdul Halim (on expiry of contractual service tenure ) from Jamalpur-2, BNP`s Assistant Office Secretary Imran Saleh Prince from Mymansingh-1 and former JCD leader Dr Mahbubul Alam Liton from Mymansingh-11.