Dhaka [Bangladesh], April 10 : The election for the reserved women's seats in the Jatiya Sangshad, the National Parliament of Bangladesh, will be held on May 12, the Election Commission of Bangladesh said.
The schedule was unveiled on Wednesday at a briefing held at the Election Commission building in Agargaon by its Senior Secretary, Akhtar Ahmed.
According to the announced timetable, the deadline for submission of nomination papers is April 21, while scrutiny will take place on April 22 and 23.
The Bangladeshi parliament has a total of 350 seats. Of these, 300 seats are elected directly by the votes of the general public, while 50 reserved seats for women are allocated in proportion to the number of seats won by political parties.
According to this proportion, 36 seats have been allocated to the BNP, 13 to Jamaat-e-Islami and its allied parties, and one seat has been reserved for independent candidates.
The EC secretary further stated that appeals may be lodged on April 26, with hearings scheduled for April 27 and 28.
The final date for withdrawal of candidacy is April 29, and election symbols will be allocated on April 30.
After the Election Commission announced the details of the reserved women's seats election, the BNP began distributing nomination papers to female candidates at its central office in Nayapaltan, Dhaka, from Friday.
"I want a nomination from the Bangladesh National Party (BNP) because I think it is a progressive party. It is progressive because our honourable Prime Minister is progressive and he wants progressive people to be in the parliament," Zareen Delawar, a doctor, told ANI, after collecting a nomination form from the BNP office.
"Women in Bangladesh mean a lot because if we don't have reserved seats for women, where will women go and talk? We cannot always talk on the street. We cannot always have a human chain. We need to speak out. We want debate in the Parliament so that our rights are given to us. Because you cannot forget, we are the architects of the entire civilisation. Women are the architects, so our position is here," she added.
In the February 12 elections, BNP secured a commanding majority in the 300-seat parliament, winning over 151 seats.
Jamaat-e-Islami, previously an ally of the BNP, contested as a rival and emerged as the second-largest party, establishing itself as a key opposition force.
According to the Bangladesh Election Commission, the BNP-led alliance secured 212 seats, while the Jamaat-e-Islami-led bloc won 77.
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