Dhaka: Two candidates are officially set to contest the upcoming presidential election scheduled for August 20, as confirmed by Election Commission (EC) Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed today. “Arrangements have been made for voting in the presidential election from 2 pm to 5 pm on August 20 in the session hall of the National Parliament building,” Ahmed stated while briefing journalists at the Election Building in Agargaon.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, today marked the deadline for withdrawing nomination papers under the Presidential Election Act of 1991. After scrutiny, the candidacies of two individuals were deemed valid, and neither candidate withdrew. Thus, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Colonel (retd.) Ali Ahmed, Bir Bikram, will vie for the presidency on August 20.
Akhtar Ahmed also mentioned that the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), AMM Nasir Uddin, will brief voters on the voting procedure before the commencement of the election. “After that, we will begin the voting there,” he noted. The ballot papers, which have already been printed, consist of two parts: the counterfoil and the ballot paper itself. Parliament members must sign their full names to receive their ballots.
The ballot paper will feature the candidates’ names arranged according to the initial letters of the Bengali alphabet, with space provided for lawmakers to vote by signing their names. The completed ballots will then be deposited into a designated ballot box. Voting will close at 5 pm, after which the counting will begin.
Akhtar detailed the counting process, indicating that with a total of 349 voters, the commission will tally how many members of Parliament voted, how many ballots were valid, and how many were rejected or unused. Based on the valid votes, the candidate with the most votes will be declared the winner by the returning officer in the parliament. A gazette will subsequently be published.
In response to inquiries, the EC Secretary assured that the preliminary results would be announced promptly after voting, with the gazette publication following soon after, requiring only the minimum necessary time.