Dhaka:The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has announced the 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 has invited women aspiring to contest the by-election to collect nomination forms on Friday, October 16.
According to United News of Bangladesh, 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 the forms from the party's central office in Nayapaltan. The completed forms need to be submitted to the same office on October 17, between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.
The Election Commission (EC) announced on October 12 that the by-election schedule for the seat, which became vacant after the resignation of Ferdousy Ahmed Mishti, is set with November 12 as the voting day. The deadline for submitting nomination papers to the returning officer at the Nirbachan Bhaban is October 26, with scrutiny scheduled for October 27. The last date for withdrawal of candidature is November 1.
Mishti, who was elected to the reserved women's seat with a BNP nomination, resigned on October 1 following instructions from Prime Minister Tarique Rahman. Her resignation came amid allegations of involvement in an attack, vandalism, looting, and demolition at the Radda MCH-FP Centre in Mirpur, Dhaka, on September 24. Under the law, only the BNP can nominate a candidate for the vacant seat. If there is more than one candidate, only BNP alliance lawmakers will be eligible to vote, although reserved women's seats generally see a single candidate, requiring no voting.