Staff Reporter:
A faction of the BNP has again turned to its old habit of carrying out arson attacks to burn public prop-erty instead of participating in the upcoming 12th national polls, foreign ministry said yesterday.
“A fraction of BNP, a major opposition political party -instead of participating- resorted to burning pri-vate and public properties, blockades, hartals, and are boycotting the upcoming election (although many of its own leaders are participating),” said the ministry in a post on its verified Facebook page.
The statement read that a large number of nomination papers were submitted amid fanfare and festivity by the aspiring candidates for the upcoming 12th national parliamentary elections to be held on January 7, 2024.
The Election Commission received a total of 2,711 nomination papers against 300 constituencies across the country.
After completion of a 15 day timeframe on November 30, 2023, candidates totaling 1964 from 30 polit-ical parties out of 44 registered political parties submitted their nomination papers.
A total of 303 candidates from Awami League, 304 from Jatiya Party, 218 from Zaker Party, 151 from Trinamool BNP, 142 from National People’s Party, 116 from Bangladesh Congress, and others from the remaining parties submitted their nomination papers.
The participation of the candidates across a wide variety of political parties with a lot of interest and en-thusiasm has so far been a hallmark of the free, fair and transparent election process which the Election Commission is committed to advance.
Additionally, the post said, a staggering 747 candidates submitted their nomination papers as independ-ent candidates including about 33 former BNP MPs and leaders.
This also highlights the participatory nature of the upcoming elections.
The nomination papers will be scrutinized from December 1-4, 2023, and candidatures can be with-drawn by December 17, 2023.
Earlier, the schedule for the 12th national parliamentary elections was announced by Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal on November 15, 2023.
