DHAKA — The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has begun selling nomination forms to choose its candidates for the reserved women’s seats in the 13th Parliament, party officials said.
The party’s senior joint secretary general, Advocate Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, inaugurated the sale of nomination forms. The process began at 11 a.m. Friday at the party’s central office in the capital’s Nayapaltan and will continue through April 12.
Rizvi said the candidates for the reserved women’s seats would be selected from among those who suffered torture and persecution during the Awami League’s rule. He said BNP’s female leaders had endured imprisonment and various forms of persecution because they were in the opposition. The party’s nomination board will consider all factors to select qualified candidates, he said, which is what everyone expects.
Several criteria will be weighed in the nomination process, Rizvi said, including a candidate’s role in the July movement, educational qualifications, political experience and the ability to speak effectively in Parliament. The Election Commission has announced the schedule for the reserved women’s seat election, with voting set for May 12. Under the schedule, the deadline to submit nomination papers is April 21. The papers will be scrutinized on April 22 and 23.
Appeals can be filed on April 26 and will be settled on April 27 and 28. The deadline to withdraw candidacy is April 29, and symbols will be allotted on April 30. Voting will be held on May 12. Of Parliament’s 350 seats, 50 are reserved for women. Of those, 36 have been reserved for the BNP, 13 for Jamaat-e-Islami and its allies and one for independent candidates.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report