Ruling Awami League today started selling nomination forms to aspirants for its 43 reserved seats for women in the 11th parliament.

The aspirants were seen thronged the AL president's Dhanmondi political office in Dhaka since morning to collect the nomination forms.

AL General Secretary Obaidul Quader formally inaugurated the selling of the nomination forms, reports UNB.

The party has fixed Tk 30,000 as the price for each nomination paper.

Yesterday, the Election Commission said that it is likely to announce the polls schedule on February 17 for 50 parliamentary seats exclusively reserved for women.

The reserved seats' distribution will reflect the seat share in the directly elected 300 constituencies. According to the proportional representation in the parliament, Awami League will get women MPs from 43 reserved seats, Jatiya Party from 4 seats, BNP from one, and others will fill out the last two.

Out of the 300 parliamentary constituencies across the country, Awami League won in 259 constituencies, while Jatiya Party in 20 seats, BNP in six seats, Workers' Party in three constituencies, Gano Forum, Jasod and Bikalpadhara each in two seats, Tarikat Federation and JP (Manju) each in one seat in the recently held 11th general election.

Besides, independent candidates were elected in three constituencies in the polls held on December 30 last.

One remaining constituency Gaibanda-3 will go to polls on January 27, after the election there was postponed earlier following the death of a candidate.

The Election Commission has a legal obligation to arrange the polls to the 50 reserved seats within 90 days after the gazette of general election result is published.

The directly-elected members of parliament are the voters of the election.

If the number of nominated candidates by a political party is equal to its reserved seats, the contenders will be declared elected unopposed immediate after the last date for withdrawal of candidacy.

Meanwhile, the Jatiya Party will start selling nomination paper from tomorrow for its four reserved seats, sources at the party told The Daily Star this afternoon.

Voter turnout in the 11th parliamentary polls might have been 30 percent and another 50 percent was shown "farcically", noted economist and former caretaker government adviser Dr Akbar Ali Khan said today.

Voter turnout of the national polls was shown to be more than 80 percent; on the other hand, it was less than 30 percent in city corporation polls, he told the inaugural ceremony of Sushashoner Jonno Nagorik's (Shujan) 7th National Council-2020 held at the city's Institute of Diploma Engineers, Bangladesh.

Usually, voter turnout in general polls is low because political parties are not organised at grassroots level as per expectation, he said.

But when union parishad or municipality polls take place, local candidates remain proactive and they put extra effort to make their relatives, friends and well-wishers cast their votes, he said.

"So, in no way voter turnout of general election could surpass the turnout of municipality polls," he added.

The overall turnout in the recently held Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) polls was 29 percent while it was 25.32 percent in the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) election.

Akbar Ali Khan said the Election Commission should examine turnout at each polling centre before declaring the polls result.

If it is seen that turnout is 100, 98 or 95 percent then they should immediately suspend the voting on the ground of false votes, he said.

If the EC can monitor voting result in such a way, many irregularities will be apparent, he added.

He also said no effective measure was taken to earn people's trust on electronic voting machines (EVM) and its function.

The EVMs seem effective considering the technology. However, in many countries there are controversies regarding EVMs and it is necessary to be cautious about their use in Bangladesh, he said.

Akbar Ali lauded Shujan's efforts as a platform campaigning for good governance and said it should stick to a one-point mandate during the course of its future movement, which is the demand for fair election.

The Election Commission will announce the schedule for the next parliamentary election on November 8.

The decision came at a meeting with Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda in the chair. Four other election commissioners, EC secretary and some high officials of the EC were present.

“The Commission had earlier decided to announce the election schedule on November 4 [yesterday]. But we have now decided to unveil it on November 8, considering the overall situation,” said Election Commissioner Brig Gen (retd) Shahadat Hossain Chowdhury while briefing journalists after the meeting at the Nirbachon Bhaban.

The CEC will announce the schedule in an address to the nation through Bangladesh Television and Bangladesh Betar in the evening of November 8, he added.

Asked about the polling day, Shahadat said election would be held within 45 days from announcement of the schedule.

Therefore, the 11th parliamentary election is likely to be held between December 20 and December 23, said sources at the EC.

On November 3, the Jatiya Oikyafront, an alliance formed recently by the BNP, Gonoforum, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, Nagorik Oikya and Forward Party, wrote to the CEC not to announce the polls schedule until the end of the ongoing talks that began on November 1.  

On November 1, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina led a 23-member delegation of the Awami League-led 14-party alliance, while Oikyafront leader Dr Kamal Hossain led a 20-member team in a discussion that focused on reaching a consensus over holding the next general election in a fair, credible and inclusive manner.

Although the talks were held in a congenial atmosphere, the PM gave no assurance that the government would meet the Oikyafront's demands, meeting sources said.

RULES FOR EVM USE

At yesterday's briefing, Shahadat said they had finalised the rules for using electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the upcoming general election.

About the use of EVMs, he said the EVMs would be used on a limited scale in the polling centres in urban areas.

The EC yesterday finalised the rules for filing nomination papers online, the election commissioner added.