Candidates Face 4pm Deadline to Withdraw Presidential Bids

Bangla Press Desk:  Candidates in the country’s 23rd presidential election have until 4pm today (Tuesday) to withdraw their candidacies, after which the Election Commission (EC) will publish the final list.

If more than one candidate remains in the race, voting will be held on Thursday (20 August) in the session hall of the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban.EC Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed said voting will be held from 2pm to 5pm on 20 August. After ballot papers are delivered to lawmakers, they will sign the papers and cast their votes in any one of the three designated ballot boxes.

Vote counting will begin immediately after voting ends at 5pm. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) will announce the number of valid votes out of the total 349 ballots and the number of votes secured by each candidate. The formal process of publishing the election results in the gazette will later be completed at the Secretariat.

Two candidates have submitted nomination papers for the presidency this time. The BNP has nominated its Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir. His nomination paper was proposed by BNP Standing Committee member Abdul Moyeen Khan and seconded by Goyeshwar Chandra Roy.

Meanwhile, Colonel (retd) Oli Ahmed, chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), has been nominated as the candidate of the 11-party alliance led by Jamaat-e-Islami. His nomination paper was proposed by Dhaka-15 lawmaker and Jamaat Ameer Dr Shafiqur Rahman and seconded by Narayanganj-4 lawmaker and NCP leader Abdullah Al Amin.

Following scrutiny of the nomination papers on Sunday (16 August), the EC declared the nominations of Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Oli Ahmed valid.

Earlier, on 24 July, the country’s 22nd President, Mohammed Shahabuddin, resigned citing health reasons. Following his resignation, the Election Commission began the process of electing a new president.