Awami League names two more candidates for JS reserved seats

Published: February 10, 2019 11:08:33 | Updated: February 11, 2019 14:13:49

A YouTube grab showing the office of Bangladesh Awami League at at Bangabandhu avenue, Dhaka

The Awami League has named two more candidates for seats reserved for women in parliament.

Pabna’s Nadia Yasmin and Natore’s Ratna Ahmed are the ruling party’s latest nominees.

The decision came from a meeting of the Awami League nomination boards presided over by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday.

On Friday, the Awami League announced 41 candidates, including activist Aroma Dutta and actress Suborna Mustafa, for seats reserved for women in parliament, reports bdnews24.

The latest nominations take the Awami League’s tally of women candidates to 43. The party has now filled its allotment of women’s seats in parliament.

Among the 350 seats in parliament, 50 are reserved exclusively for women.

While the 300 parliamentary seats are contested in a direct election, the reserved seats are allocated to political parties in proportion to their number of seats in parliament.

Accordingly, 43 seats are allotted to the Awami League, four to the Jatiya Party, one each to the BNP and the Workers Party while the independent candidates may receive one seat if they join the votes.

The election schedule for the reserved seats will be announced on February 17, the Election Commission has said.