United News of Bangladesh

BNP on Thursday announced its schedule for distributing and submitting nomination forms for the by-election to the vacant reserved women’s seat No. 323 in the 13th Jatiya Sangsad. The party invited women aspiring to contest the by-election to collect nomination forms on Friday (October 16). The information was disclosed in a notice signed by BNP Assistant Office Secretary Muhammad Munir Hossain. Candidates seeking BNP nomination for the reserved seat can collect nomination forms from the party’s central office in Nayapaltan, the notice said. The filled up forms must be submitted to the same office on October 17, between 10am and 5pm. The Election Commission (EC) on October 12 announced the schedule for the by-election to the reserved women’s seat that fell vacant following the resignation of Ferdousy Ahmed Mishti, setting November 12 as voting day. According to the schedule, the deadline for submitting nomination papers to the returning officer at the Nirbachan Bhaban is October 26. The nomination papers will be scrutinised on October 27, while the last date for withdrawal of candidature is November 1. Voting will be held on November 12. Mishti was elected as a lawmaker from a reserved women’s seat with nomination from the BNP. Under the law, only the BNP can nominate a candidate for the vacant seat. If more than one candidate contests the election, only lawmakers from the BNP alliance will be eligible to vote. However, reserved women’s seats generally have a single candidate, requiring no voting. Mishti resigned from her parliamentary seat on October 1 following instructions from Prime Minister Tarique Rahman amid allegations that she was involved in an attack, vandalism, looting and demolition at the Radda MCH-FP Centre, a maternal and child healthcare facility in Mirpur, Dhaka, on September 24.