Neither of the two presidential candidates withdrew from the race within the stipulated deadline of 4pm Tuesday, paving the way for voting in the presidential election on Thursday, nearly 35 years after the country last witnessed a presidential election contested by more than one candidate.
BNP candidate Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Jamaat-led 11-party alliance contender Col (Retd) Oli Ahmad are running in the presidential election.
“There are two valid candidates in the presidential election. The deadline for withdrawal of candidacy expired at 4pm today (Tuesday). None of them withdrew their candidacy within the stipulated time,” Election Commission Secretariat Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed told reporters in the afternoon.
According to the EC secretary, voting will be held from 2pm to 5pm on Thursday 20 in the session chamber of the National Parliament.
At the beginning of the voting, the Election Officer and also Chief Election Commissioner (AMM Nasir Uddin) will brief the lawmakers who are the electors on the voting procedure, he said.
Akhtar Ahmed said the ballot papers would be prepared on Tuesday.
He said each ballot paper will have two parts — a counterfoil and the ballot portion. The counterfoil will contain three pieces of information and a blank space: the serial number, the name of the MP and the divisional number provided by the National Parliament Secretariat.
An MP will sign his or her full name in the designated space before receiving the ballot paper.
The names of the contesting candidates will be printed on the right-hand side of the ballot paper in alphabetical order in Bangla. There will be a designated space beside each candidate’s name where MPs will sign their full names and cast their votes.
The MPs will then deposit their ballots into the designated ballot box. Ballots will be accepted until 5pm, after which counting will begin.
The ballot paper will carry black printing on a white background, the EC secretary said.
A total of 349 MPs are eligible to vote in the presidential election.
The votes will be counted in the session chamber of National Parliament immediately after voting ends, and the election officer will announce the result there.
The result will subsequently be published in the official gazette.