Bangladesh
Bangladesh 50 candidates of reserved women seats won unopposed
Dhaka, 25 February 2024 : The Election Commission (EC) has declared valid the nomination papers of 50 candidates submitted for the reserved women seats of the 12th National Parliament.
No candidate has withdrawn nomination papers till 4 pm on Sunday 25th February.
That is why the EC declared all the women candidates elected unopposed.
Returning Officer (Joint Secretary) Muniruzzaman Talukder in charge of election in reserved women's seats informed this information. He said, last Tuesday, February 27, 50 winners will be announced in the gazette.
He said, Awami League alliance has received 48 nomination papers for the election of reserved women's seats in the 12th National Parliament. At the same time, I got two nominations from the National Party. We have selected within the stipulated time and filed nominations as per their list.
Today, February 25, was the last day to withdraw nominations till 4 PM. Those who submitted their nomination papers had an opportunity to withdraw their nomination papers till 4 pm today.
Since none of the candidates have withdrawn their nomination papers today, we have provisions under Section 12 of the Election Act to declare candidates elected unopposed.
In general elections, reserved seats for women are distributed proportionally against the seats available to political parties or coalitions. This time Awami League has won 224 seats. Independent Members of Parliament were elected in 62 constituencies. They supported Awami League in nominating candidates for reserved women's seats. The two parties in the Awami League-led alliance won two seats. They also allied with Awami League. As a result Awami League is getting 48 seats.
On the other hand, Jatiya Party won 11 seats. They will get two reserved seats for women.
An equal number of candidates are nominated by parties and alliances, as opposed to generally reserved seats for women. In this case single candidates may be declared elected unopposed at the end of the withdrawal period. If that happens, the members of the reserved women's seats will get the opportunity to join the parliament session in the current session of the 12th National Parliament.
