ISLAMABAD: Seventy-six women candidates, around one-third of the total number, will contest Bangladesh’s 13th National Parliamentary Election scheduled for Feb. 12, state-run Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) reported on Thursday.
Akhter Ahmed, senior secretary of the Election Commission Secretariat, disclosed the figures during a briefing for reporters at Nirbachon Bhaban in Agargaon.
He said the highest number of women candidates, 15, will contest from the Dhaka-12 constituency, while only two women are contesting in Pirojpur-1. Overall, 1,981 candidates are running for the 300 seats in parliament, BSS reported.
Of the total candidates, 249 are independents and 76 are women, the Election Commission said. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has nominated the most candidates, 288 in total, while nine registered political parties have not fielded any, according to state media.
Responding to a question on whether the number of candidates could still change, Ahmed said it would depend on court directives.
“If the court orders, the number of contested candidates may increase. We will follow whatever the court directs,” he said, adding that several candidates had already been included following court orders, BSS reported.
Over 127 million eligible voters
Meanwhile, the Election Commission also released constituency-wise voter data ahead of the Feb. 12 election and a referendum scheduled for the same day.
A total of 127,711,895 voters are eligible to cast ballots nationwide, said Md. Ruhul Amin Mollik, director of public relations at the Election Commission Secretariat, according to BSS.
Of the total electorate, 51% (64,825,151) are male and 49% (62,885,524) are female, while the number of hijra voters stands at 1,120, BSS reported.
The lowest number of voters, 2,28,431, is registered in the Jhalokhati-1 constituency, while the highest number, 8,04,333, is in Gazipur-2, among the country’s 300 constituencies, according to the Election Commission.
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