Neither of the two presidential candidates withdrew their candidacy before the deadline. As a result, the country is set to hold a presidential vote on August 20 (Thursday), the first such vote in roughly 35 years.
The deadline for withdrawing presidential candidacy expired at 4:00 p.m. Tuesday.
After 4:00 p.m., Election Commission (EC) Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed disclosed the information to reporters at the Election Commission building and outlined the voting process.
BNP’s candidate, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, and the Jamaat-led 11-party alliance’s candidate, Colonel (retd) Oli Ahmed, are contesting the vote.
The EC secretary said voting will take place in the National Parliament’s session chamber from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. on August 20. At the start of voting, the returning officer and Chief Election Commissioner A M M Nasir Uddin will brief members of parliament, who serve as the voters, on the voting procedure.
The EC secretary said the presidential election ballot papers would be prepared that same day. Each ballot paper will have two parts: a counterfoil and the main ballot. The counterfoil will carry a serial number, the MP’s name, division number, and other necessary information. Each MP will sign their full name in the designated space before receiving their ballot.
“The MP will sign their full name in one space to receive the ballot,” the EC secretary said. “On the right-hand side, the names of the contesting candidates will be arranged alphabetically according to the Bengali alphabet and printed there, with a space beside each printed name where the MP will sign their full name to cast their vote. They will then deposit the ballot paper in the designated ballot box. Ballots will be accepted until 5:00 p.m., after which counting will begin. The ballot will be printed in black on white.”
The presidential election has 349 eligible voters, all members of parliament. Counting will take place in the same session chamber after voting ends. The returning officer will announce the results there, after which the gazette notification will be published.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report