Today Is the Last Day to Withdraw Candidacy in Presidential Election

Tuesday (August 18) is the last day for candidates to withdraw their nominations in Bangladesh’s 23rd presidential election. Candidates can withdraw their candidacy until 4:00pm today.

Election Commission (EC) officials confirmed the matter on Monday.

According to the election schedule, if no candidate withdraws their nomination by the deadline, voting will take place on August 20.

EC Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed said voting will be held from 2:00pm to 5:00pm on August 20 in the Jatiya Sangsad chamber.

After ballots are distributed, lawmakers will sign them and cast their votes in any one of three ballot boxes. Counting will begin immediately after voting ends at 5:00pm.

According to the EC, there are 349 ballots, and the Chief Election Commissioner will announce the number of valid votes and the votes received by each candidate. The election results will subsequently be gazetted through the Secretariat.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has nominated its Secretary General and Local Government Minister Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir for president. BNP Standing Committee member Abdul Moyeen Khan is the proposer, while Gayeshwar Chandra Roy is the seconder.

Meanwhile, an 11-party alliance led by Jamaat-e-Islami has nominated Colonel Oli Ahmed, chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Two nomination papers were submitted for his candidacy.

Jamaat Ameer and Dhaka-15 lawmaker Shafiqur Rahman is listed as the proposer, while Abdullah Al Amin, an MP from Narayanganj-4 and leader of the National Citizen Party (NCP), is the seconder.

The election schedule was announced after 22nd President Mohammed Shahabuddin resigned on July 24, citing health reasons.

The Election Commission subsequently set August 20 as the date for the presidential election.