EC secretary rules out further extension for nomination submission

EC Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed has stated that the Election Commission (EC) will not extend the deadline for submitting nomination papers for the upcoming national election.

"The time for submission of nomination papers will not be extended anymore," he told reporters at Nirbachan Bhaban this afternoon (29 December).

The deadline for the submission of nomination papers expired at 5pm on Monday.

Replying to a question, the EC secretary said that the figure for nomination paper submissions across 300 constituencies would be announced later.

Most aspirants submitted their nomination papers today, as only 166 had been filed by Sunday to contest the 13th parliamentary election, scheduled for 12 February 2026.

According to the EC's Central Coordination Committee, a total of 3,144 nomination papers were collected to run the polls from the country's 300 constituencies till Sunday after the election schedule announced on 11 December.

Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin on 11 December announced the schedule to arrange the 13th parliament election and the referendum on the July National Charter (Constitutional Reform) Implementation Order simultaneously on 12 February.

Nomination submission deadline for national polls expires today

According to the election schedule, the deadline for the submission of nomination paper is 29 December, while the scrutiny of nomination paper is on 30 December to 4 January, and the last date for the withdrawal of candidature is 20 January. The election campaign will start on 22 January and continue for 48 hours before the balloting period (7:30am on 10 February).

This time the Commission appointed 69 returning officers –two divisional commissioners (Dhaka and Chattogram), three regional election officers (Dhaka, Chattogram and Khulna) and 64 district deputy commissioners.

The collection and submission of nomination papers started on 12 December, a day after the announcement of the election schedule.