Amid the shadow cast by the BNP and like-minded parties' boycott calls, the Election Commission has once again adjusted the count of participating parties in the 12th national elections. During a briefing at the poll regulator's Agargaon headquarters on Saturday, EC Additional Secretary Ashok Kumar Debnath announced that 29 out of the 44 registered parties in Bangladesh are set to contest the elections. Initially, the EC had stated that 30 parties would participate after the immediate count following the nomination form submission deadline on Thursday. However, the next day, Ashok Debnath revealed that data collected nationwide indicated that 32 parties had submitted nomination forms for their candidates. But that figure, too, was updated the next day, with the EC saying that 2,713 candidates had filed nomination papers.

Source: bd News24 December 03, 2023 00:03 UTC