What the EC said about the election of reserved seats for women

The 13th National Parliament election is over, now it is the turn of reserved seats for women. There is a constitutional obligation to hold elections for reserved seats within 90 days of the publication of the gazette of the general election results. In view of this, the Election Commission (EC) is also looking to organize the elections during Ramadan.

Election Commissioner Abdur Rahmanel Machud shared this information with the media on Wednesday (February 18).

He said, "We will try to hold the election of reserved seats for women before Eid. This has to be done within 90 days. In that case, if possible, we are trying to do it during Ramadan." Informing about organizing the by-election after Eid, EC Machud said, "After these are over, we will hold the local government elections (city corporations) later." According to the RPO, reserved seats for women are distributed in proportion to the number of seats that a party wins in the general elections. Only if a party wins more than one seat, women get seats and independents do not get women seats individually.

The 13th National Parliament election was held on February 12 in 299 seats. The Election Commission announced the results of 297 seats, with two seats suspended. Of these, BNP won 209 seats. Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami won 68, Jatiya Nagorik Party (NCP) won 6, and Bangladesh Khelafat Majlis won two seats. In addition, Islami Andolan Bangladesh, Gana Adhikar Parishad, Bangladesh Jatiya Party (BJP), Gana Sanghati Andolan, and Khelafat Majlis won one seat each. And 41 parties, including the Jatiya Party, did not win even after participating in the election. 83 women candidates participated in this election. Of these, 63 were from different parties and 20 were independents. However, seven of them won. Six women candidates from BNP were elected by a large margin. Barrister Rumin Farhana, who was expelled from BNP, was elected as an independent candidate in one seat.