Dhaka, Dec 8 (bdnews24.com) – The Election Commission has officially declared the five candidates, nominated by the ruling Awami League, elected unchallenged to reserved seats for women in parliament.
The returning officer named them on Thursday after none of them withdrew their nomination until 2pm Wednesday – the deadline for withdrawal.
As per laws, the five candidates nominated by Awami League have been elected without contest, he had earlier told bdnews24.com.
The new parliament members are bdnews24.com's social affairs editor A N Mahfuza Khatun Baby Maudud, AL's women's affairs secretary Fazilatunnesa Indira, Women AL acting general secretary Pinu Khan, its Chittagong unit chief Hasina Mannan, and deputy attorney general Fazilatunnesa Bappy.
The commission on Dec 1 declared the nomination papers of the five candidates valid after screening.
Parliament passed the Fifteenth Amendment to the constitution on June 30, increasing the number of reserved seats for women from the existing 45 to 50.
The Awami League got all five new seats with its majority, under the proportional representation (PR) system.
The ruling alliance has 256 seats in the ninth Parliament, while the opposition led by the BNP has 32 directly elected MPs from territorial constituencies.
Earlier, AL got 36 of 45 reserved seats for women, with BNP getting five and Jatiya Party four.
At a meeting held at Ganobhaban on Nov 26, the Awami League Parliamentary Board nominated the five as party representatives for the newly carved out women's reserved seats.
With prime minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair, the ALPB picked the five from a total 179 aspirants.
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