CEC convenes MPs’ meeting for presidential voting on 20 Aug

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) AMM Nasir Uddin has convened a meeting of the members of parliament (MPs) at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban on 20 August for voting in the presidential election.

The voting will be held from 2pm to 5pm in the parliament session chamber, according to a gazette notification issued by the Election Commission on Tuesday.

The CEC, exercising powers vested under the Presidential Election Act, 1991, and in consultation with the speaker, has convened the meeting of MPs.

A total of 349 MPs are voters in the presidential election.

According to Article 5(3) of the Presidential Election Act, if parliament is not in session, the CEC, in consultation with the speaker, must convene a meeting of MPs at least seven days before the election.

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According to the presidential schedule announced by the EC on 6 August, the nomination papers can be submitted from 10am to 4pm on 13 August.

Scrutiny of nomination papers will be held on 16 August, while the last date for withdrawal of candidature is 18 August.

The 11-party alliance, led by opposition Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, has already nominated Liberal Democratic Party Chairman Col (retd) Oli Ahmad as its candidate for the presidential election.

However, the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has not yet announced its presidential candidate.

Both camps, meanwhile, collected nomination papers for their respective candidates.

This is going to be the first presidential election involving more than one candidate in 35 years.