Twenty-five candidates have submitted their nomination forms for the Bogra-7 constituency–the highest among all 300 seats–to participate in the 12th national parliamentary polls scheduled to be held on January 7.
Election Commission (EC) Director (Public Relations) Md Shariful Alam informed the matter on Friday.
Among the 25 MP hopefuls, the number of independent candidates is 16. Besides, the Awami League, JaSoD, Jatiya Party (JaPa), Ganomukti Jote, NPP, Bangladesh Congress, BNM, Jatiya Party (JP) and Zaker Party are fielding their candidates.
The second-highest, 21, nomination papers were submitted for the Dhaka-5 seat–the most among the 20 20 constituencies of Dhaka.
On the other hand, the lowest of four nomination forms were submitted for 12 seats: Dinajpur-2, Dinajpur-4, Rangpur-4, Sirajganj-4, Bhola-1, Barisal-1, Jhalokathi-2, Sherpur-2, Faridpur-2, Madaripur-1, Sylhet-4 and Bandarban.
Meanwhile, 229 candidates submitted nomination papers for the 20 constituencies in Dhaka. Among them, the lowest number of nomination papers were submitted for the Dhaka-2; only five people submitted their nomination papers for this seat.
And after Dhaka-5, the second-highest number of nomination papers was submitted for Dhaka-14 and Dhaka-18. Sixteen candidates submitted nomination papers in these two constituencies.
Besides, 10 candidates submitted their nomination papers for Dhaka-1, nine for Dhaka-3, 13 for Dhaka-4, 11 for Dhaka-6 and Dhaka-7, 14 for Dhaka-8, 13 for Dhaka-9, 11 for Dhaka-10, 10 for Dhaka-11, eight for Dhaka-12, 11 for Dhaka-13, eight for Dhaka-15, seven for Dhaka-16, 13 for Dhaka-17 and Dhaka-19, and nine for Dhaka-20.
On average, nine candidates submitted nomination forms for each constituency on Thursday, the last day for submission to participate in the election.
Candidates from 30 out of 44 registered political parties submitted their nomination forms to contest the election.
Information from several sources shows that most of the MP aspirants are from the ruling Awami League, the opposition Jatiya Party (JaPa-Ershad), the newly formed Trinamool BNP, the Bangladesh Nationalist Movement (BNM) and Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JaSoD-Inu).
According to official data from the Election Commission, 2,741 nomination papers were submitted for 300 constituencies across the country.
Of the aspirants, the most, 298 candidates, are from the Awami League, 289 from JaPa, 230 from Trinamool BNP, 90 from JaSoD and 82 from the BNM.
The deadline for submission of nomination papers in the 12th parliamentary elections expired on Thursday
The nomination papers will be scrutinized on December 1-4, and then the candidatures can be withdrawn by December 17.
The 12th parliamentary election will be held on January 7 (Sunday) as per the polls schedule announced by Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal on November 15.
