National polls: Candidacy of 8 nomination seekers declared invalid in Dhaka-18

The Election Commission has approved the nomination papers of eight candidates for the Dhaka-18 constituency to take part in the upcoming 12th national parliamentary elections.

However, eight other nomination forms were declared invalid as well after scrutinizing 16 nomination forms.

Returning Officer Sabirul Islam announced the names for Dhaka-18 constituency at the Dhaka Divisional Commissioner's office at Segunbagicha on Monday afternoon

The valid candidates for this seat are Sherifa Quader of Jatiya Party (JaPa), Dayal Kumar Barua of Kalyan Party, Abul Kalam Azad of BNF, Habib Hasan of Awami League, Zakir Hossain Bhuiyan of NPP, Sharif Hossain of Zaker Party, independent candidates Nazim Uddin and Khosru Chowdhury.

Trinamool BNP's Mofizur Rahman , Bangladesh Jatiya Party's Siddiqur Rahman, independent candidate Bashir Uddin, Trinamool BNP’s Sirajul Islam, JDP’s and Fahmida Haque Sukanya, Independent candidates Zafar Iqbal, Anisur Rahman and SM Tofazzal were declared invalid.

According to the schedule announced by the Election Commission, the deadline for submission of nomination forms was November 30. 

A total of 2,741 nomination papers were submitted against 300 constituencies across the country. 

A total of 30 out of 44 registered political parties submitted their nomination forms to contest the election.

Of the aspirants, the most, 298 candidates, are from the Awami League, 289 from JaPa, 230 from Trinamool BNP, 90 from JaSoD, and 82 from the BNM.

The scrutinization of nomination papers started on December 1 and continued till Monday.

The deadline for filing and disposing of appeals against the returning officer's decision is December 5-15, and the last date for withdrawing candidacy is December 17.

The returning officers will allocate symbols on December 18.

The 12th parliamentary election will be held on January 7, as per the schedule announced by Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal on November 15.