Today is the last day to withdraw the candidature of valid candidates in the 12th National Assembly Elections. Candidates can withdraw their candidature by applying to the Returning Officer during office hours on this day. And on Monday, the symbols will be allocated among the candidates. Candidates will start campaigning only after allotment of symbols.
According to the Election Conduct Rules, no candidate, party or anyone on its behalf can participate in election campaign before three weeks of polling. As a result, the election campaign is opening from Monday.
According to the schedule announced on November 15, the voting for the 12th National Assembly election is on January 7. On the last day of filing nomination papers on November 30, 2 thousand and 716 people filed nomination papers in 300 constituencies of the country. Their nomination papers were scrutinized from December 1 to 4 by the concerned returning officers. The returning officers declared the candidature of 1 thousand and 985 persons valid and the candidature of 731 persons invalid.
560 appeals were submitted to the Election Commission against valid and invalid candidates. Of these, 625 appeals were filed to get back the candidature. The remaining 35 appeals were filed seeking cancellation of candidature of valid candidates. 280 candidates were returned on appeal. Besides, the candidature of 5 valid candidates as decided by the Returning Officers is cancelled. In total, the number of valid candidates in this election is 2 thousand and 260 people. The candidates for this election will be finalized after the withdrawal of nominations on Sunday.
According to Election Commission data, out of 44 registered parties in the country, 29 party nominees and independent candidates are participating in the elections. 15 parties including BNP and their allies are not participating in the elections.
