12th parliament: EC sets Mar 14 for elections to reserved seats for women

The polls will decide the 50 seats reserved for women in the 12th parliament

The Election Commission has finalised Mar 14 as the date of voting for the 50 seats reserved for women in the 12th parliament.

The watchdog finalised the date at a meeting chaired by Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal on Tuesday.

Nomination applications for the election can be submitted from 9 am to 4 pm on Feb 18. The commission will scrutinise the applications on Feb 19 and 20. The last day for candidates to withdraw is Feb 25, according to EC Secretary Md Jahangir Alam.

Though the day is reserved for voting in the polls, the results are usually known beforehand. Parties and coalitions, who receive shares of the reserved seats according to the number of parliamentary seats they won, usually select only 50 candidates for the seats. They win unopposed after the deadline for withdrawals of nominations pass.

According to the existing law, the parliamentary seats reserved for women are distributed per the seats won by the parties in the general elections. The MPs elected in the general parliamentary seats cast ballots for these reserved seats.

In this year’s Jan 7 elections, the Awami League secured 223 seats, Jatiya Party 11, the JaSad, Workers Party, and Kalyan Party won one each and independent candidates won 62 seats.

According to the proportional allocation of parliamentary seats, the Awami League, along with the independent election winners, is getting 48 seats, while the Jatiya Party is getting two.

The first session of the 12th Parliament began on Jan 30. The MPs in the reserved seats will join the session if everything proceeds smoothly.