Preparatory meeting at parliament ahead of presidential election

A preparatory meeting has begun at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban ahead of the presidential election. The meeting, chaired by Acting Speaker Barrister Kaiser Kamal, started at 11am on Tuesday, August 11, to discuss various aspects of organising the election.

Meanwhile, the ruling BNP is preparing to field a candidate for the presidency. The party has already collected two nomination forms from the office of the Election Commission's Returning Officer on Sunday, August 9.

The most discussed potential candidate for BNP is party Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir. Other names being considered include Standing Committee members Khondokar Mosharraf Hossain, Moeen Khan, Nazrul Islam Khan and Gayeshwar Chandra Roy. Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmed and BNP Vice-Chairman Altaf Hossain Chowdhury are also on the list of potential candidates.

On the other hand, the Jamaat-e-Islami-led 11-party alliance has decided to field LDP Chairman Colonel (retd.) Oli Ahmed for the presidency. The alliance collected nomination papers on his behalf from the Election Commission's Returning Officer's office in Agargaon on Monday, August 10.

According to the EC schedule, nomination papers for the presidency can be submitted until August 13. Scrutiny of nomination papers will be held on August 16, and candidates can withdraw until 4pm on August 18. Voting, if contested, will take place on August 20 from 2pm to 5pm at the Jatiya Sangsad session hall. The process began after the country's 22nd president Md Sahabuddin resigned on July 24.