The 12th Jatiya Sangsad (IS) election process got the momentum as most of the major political parties, including the ruling Awami League (AL), started selling of nomination forms to their aspirants on Saturday.
The upcoming JS polls ae scheduled to be held on January 7, 2024.
Alongside the ruling party, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD), Jatiya Party, Workers Party of Bangladesh, Trinamool BNP, Bangladesh Nationalist Front (BNF), Samyabadi Dal, Tarikat-e Federation and several other political parties also started the nomination form selling process at their own offices.
Centring the nomination sale, all the party offices in the capital Dhaka and across the country have started to become crowded with the presence of the leaders, activists and supporters.
According to Awami League, the party president and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the nomination selling process at the party's Bangabandhu Avenue central office in the capital at 10:00am on Saturday.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina herself also purchased a nomination form for the JS polls. On behalf of Sheikh Hasina, AL advisory council member Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed collected a nomination form for Gopalganj-3 constituency.
Following the Prime Minister, central leaders of the party, including party’s general secretary Obaidul Quader also collected their nomination forms.
Awami League Office Secretary Barrister Biplab Barua said a total of 1,074 nomination forms were sold on the first day of selling the nomination forms.
The forms brought about Tk 5.37 crore into the ruling party's fund, confirmed the matter this evening, he said.
"A total of 1,060 forms were sold directly since Saturday morning, then 14 more were sold online," he said.
Aspiring candidates are required to pay Tk 50,000 for the nomination form.
Prospective candidates can purchase and submit these nomination papers online or directly from the office over the next four days (November18-21), adhering to a daily schedule between 10:00am and 4:00pm.
The JS polls will be held on January 7 and political parties will be able to submit nominations for candidacies till November 30.
The Election Commission (EC) will scrutinise the nomination forms from December 1-4. Appeals against the nominations can be submitted from December 6-15 and nominations need to be withdrawn by December 17.
Political parties will be able to get symbols within December 18 and the election campaign will officially kick off on December 18. The campaign duration will end at 8:00am on January18.
Workers Party of Bangladesh official sources said, the party has already started selling of its nomination forms from Friday.
Several leaders of the party said they already have primarily finalised nominations for at least 30 candidates in 30 seats.
Besides, the JSD led by Hasanul Huq Inu started selling of party nomination forms on Saturday and the process will continue till November 21. The party has fixed at Tk 5,000 for each form.
Besides, Trinamool BNP sources started selling of its nomination forms on Saturday morning at its Topkhana Road office in the capital.
An aspirant can collect nomination form by submitting a pay order of Taka 5,000. The interviews of aspirant candidates will begin at 10:00am on November 21.
Besides, the BNF also started nomination form selling process on Saturday.
The aspirants can collect and submit the nomination papers from BNF's party office located at the 4th floor of Bangladesh Shishu Kalyan Parishad building at 22/1, Topkhana road in the capital.