By-election in Thakurgaon-1 set for October 29

The Election Commission has announced the schedule for a by-election to the Thakurgaon-1 constituency, which fell vacant after Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir was elected president.

The election will be held on October 29, Election Commission Secretary Akhtar Ahmed announced on Thursday (September 10).

Candidates will have until September 27 to submit their nomination papers, which will be scrutinised on September 29. Appeals against decisions on nominations can be filed from September 30 to October 4, with the appeals to be resolved by October 6.

The deadline for withdrawing candidacies is October 7. The final list of candidates will be published thereafter, marking the start of formal election campaigning.

The parliamentary seat was declared vacant on August 22 by the Parliament Secretariat. Under Article 50(4) of the Constitution, the seat became vacant from August 21, the day Mirza Fakhrul assumed the presidency.

Mirza Fakhrul was elected as an MP from Thakurgaon-1 in the 13th parliamentary election. He was later elected the country’s 23rd president by MPs on August 20.