Naogaon-2 polls on Feb 12 after candidate’s death led to suspension of vote

The Election Commission has scheduled Naogaon-2 vote for Feb 12 after the death of an independent candidate led to the suspension of polls to the constituency.

According to a notice issued by the commission on Monday, the deadline for nomination submission in the vote to the seat is Jan 17.

The aspirants can appeal from Jan 19 to 23 against scrapping of their candidacies after scrutiny of nomination papers on Jan 18. The appeals will be settled on Jan 24.

The symbols will be allocated on Jan 26 after the end of nomination withdrawal on Jan 25.

Voting in the general election was held to 299 out of 300 seats on Sunday.

The Election Commission scrapped the polls to Naogaon-2 after Aminul Haque, a 75-year-old independent candidate, passed away under hospital care in Dhaka on Dec 29.

The candidates declared eligible will not need to submit nomination papers again, EC Additional Secretary Ashok Kumar Debnath said at the time.

Others may join the race by submitting the papers when a new schedule is announced.

Haque, a former mayor of Najipur municipality in Patnitala Upazila, won back his candidacy through a High Court appeal after the Election Commission rejected his nomination papers.

The other candidates for the seat are incumbent MP the Awami League’s Shahiduzzaman Sarker, Tofazzal Hossain of the Jatiya Party and Awami League leader Akhtarul Islam, who is running as an independent.