Presidential election on February 18

Staff Correspondent: The Election Commission (EC) has announced the schedule for the presidential election to be held on February 18.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) KM Nurul Huda came up with the announcement at Election Bhaban of the capital's Agargaon around 4:15pm on Thursday.


According to the schedule, the last date of nomination paper submission was set February 5. Nomination papers will be scrutinized on February 7 and the last date of withdrawal is  February 10.

The voting will be held at the Parliament from 2:00pm to 5:00pm on the scheduled day. All the lawmakers can exercise their franchises to elect the president.

In reply to a query, CEC said every lawmaker aged of at least 35 year-old can contest in the polls.

According to Section 123 (1) of the constitution, an election for the president’s successor must be held no sooner than 90 and no later than 60 days prior to the end of a full term – giving a deadline of February 22.

Since the constitution stipulates that the president has to be elected by the members of parliament, a vote will take place during the ongoing 19th session, which is scheduled to run until February 28.

However, no voting will be needed if there is only one candidate.

risingbd/Dhaka/January 25, 2018/Hasibul/A K Azad