BNP will start interview of nomination seekers for reserved women seats in the 13th Parliament on Friday.

BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi announced the schedule at a press briefing at the party’s central office at Nayapaltan in the capital on Thursday.

Interviews will be held at the BNP’s Chairman’s Gulshan office starting at 3pm on Friday and Saturday.

Candidates from Rajshahi, Rangpur, Khulna, Barishal and Faridpur divisions will be interviewed on Friday while those from Dhaka, Chattogram, Cumilla, Sylhet and Mymensingh divisions on Saturday.

A large number of aspirants have submitted nomination forms for the reserved women’s seats, prompting the party to arrange the interviews, said Rizvi.

BNP nomination board, headed by Party Chairman Tarique Rahman, will conduct the interviews in the presence of members of the party’s standing committee, he added.

More than 600 aspirants have collected nomination forms.

The Election Commission earlier announced the schedule for the reserved women’s seats election.

The deadline for submission of nomination papers is April 21 while scrutiny will take place on April 22 and 23.

Appeals can be filed on April 26, and will be settled between April 27 and 28. Symbols will be allotted on April 30, and voting will be held on May 12.

According to the seat distribution, the BNP alliance is expected to get 36 seats, Jamaat-e-Islami alliance 13 seats, and independents one seat.