Today is the last day to submit nomination papers for reserved women’s seats

The last date for submitting nomination papers for reserved women’s seats in the 13th National Parliament ends today. Although there is a rush to collect nomination papers, the main competition will be based on the alliance agreement. According to the schedule announced by the Bangladesh Election Commission (EC), the last date for submitting nomination papers will end today, Tuesday (April 21) afternoon.
Election Commission Secretary Akhtar Ahmed said that in the proportional distribution of 50 reserved seats, the BNP alliance will get 36 seats, Jamaat and the 11-party alliance will get 13 seats and the front of independent candidates will get 1 seat. Meanwhile, the BNP has finalized the names of its 36 women candidates by Monday (April 20) afternoon. On the other hand, the allied parties including Jamaat-e-Islam have finalized their list of 13 candidates.
According to the information provided by the Election Commission, 464 candidates have collected nomination papers so far. Of these, five women candidates have already submitted their nomination papers. They are Sanjida Islam Tuli, Nilufar Chowdhury Moni, Mahbuba Rahman, Anna Minaj and Nipun Roy Chowdhury. The remaining candidates are also expected to submit their forms by today.
According to the Election Commission’s schedule, the submitted nomination papers will be scrutinized on April 22 and 23. An appeal against the nomination decision can be filed on April 26 and the appeal will be disposed of on April 27 and 28. The last day for withdrawal of candidature is April 29 and the final candidates will be allotted symbols on April 30. If polling is required, it will be held on May 12. Election Commission officials said that parties generally do not field additional candidates against their allotted seats in reserved seats. As a result, if there are no major complications after the deadline for withdrawal of candidature on April 29, the candidates can be declared elected unopposed. However, if there are more than one candidate in a seat, the victory of that seat will be determined by the votes of the members of parliament.