Withdrawal deadline expires today for parliamentary hopefuls

Bangla Press Desk:  Today (20 January) is the final day for withdrawing candidacy for the 13th National Parliamentary Election. On this day, the final list of contesting candidates will be finalised. 

Rebel independent candidates backed by political parties must withdraw by today if they wish to exit the race. Likewise, any unresolved alliance-related disputes must be settled within the day, as no further opportunity for adjustment will remain once the deadline passes.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, returning officers will allocate election symbols among the candidates. In cases where a party has more than one candidate in a constituency, the party must finalise one name and inform the relevant returning officer.

At the same time, independent candidates may also withdraw their candidacy if they wish.

Election Commission officials provided this information on Monday.

According to the election schedule, 20 January is the deadline for withdrawal of candidacy. Returning officers will publish the final list of candidates and allocate symbols on 21 January. Election campaigning will begin on 22 January and can continue until 7:30 am on 10 February.

Voting will take place on Thursday, 12 February, from 7:30 am to 4:30 pm.

The deadline for submission of nomination papers was 29 December. This time about 2,500 nomination papers were submitted within the stipulated time. Returning officers scrutinized them from 30 December to 4 January, during which 723 nominations were rejected.

A total of 1,842 valid candidates remained across 300 constituencies. After that, 645 candidates filed appeals. During nine consecutive days of hearings from 10 to 18 January, more than 400 candidates regained their candidacy. Altogether, the number of valid candidates now stands at around 2,500.

BP/SP