Women's reserved seats: EC decides to publish gazette in Nusrat's name

The Election Commission (EC) has decided to publish the gazette in the name of Nusrat Tabassum, joint convenor of the National Citizen Party (NCP), for a reserved women's seat in the 13th national parliament.

Election Commissioner Abdur Rahmanel Mashud told the media that Nusrat's nomination paper was accepted following a court order.

"On Saturday, the returning officer declared her nomination valid. She did not withdraw her nomination on Sunday. According to the law, we have decided to declare her elected and publish the gazette," he said.

Meanwhile, another NCP leader and candidate Monira Sharmin has applied to the returning officer seeking to halt the publication of the gazette in Nusrat's name for the reserved seat until the hearing of her writ petition.

Regarding the matter, the election commissioner said no information had been received from the court as of Monday. "We are publishing the gazette after one candidate's nomination was accepted and declared valid by court order. This is also based on a court directive. If a different order comes in the future, we will comply with that as well," he said.

Under the proportional representation system, reserved women's seats are distributed among political parties and alliances. This time, the BNP alliance received 36 seats, the Jamaat alliance 13 seats and the independent alliance one seat. Among the 13 candidates from the Jamaat alliance, Mahmuda Alam Mitu and Monira Sharmin were nominated from the NCP.

During scrutiny on 23 April, Monira Sharmin's nomination was cancelled under Article 12(1)(c) of the Representation of the People Order, which states that a person is ineligible to become an MP if three years have not passed since resignation or retirement from a government job.

Monira had joined Bangladesh Krishi Bank as an officer in November 2023 and resigned in December the same year, making her ineligible.

Amid concerns that her nomination could be cancelled, the NCP nominated Nusrat Tabassum Jyoti at the last moment on 21 April. Although the deadline for submission was 4pm, her nomination was filed 19 minutes late and initially not accepted by the returning officer. She later filed a writ petition in the High Court, which ordered acceptance of her nomination and necessary action in accordance with the law. Following the order, her nomination was declared valid during scrutiny.

Monira Sharmin's appeal against cancellation of her nomination was rejected by the EC on 27 April. She subsequently filed a writ petition in the High Court.

Earlier, the EC published a gazette on Thursday declaring 49 out of 50 reserved women's seats filled in the 13th national parliament, including 36 from the BNP, 12 from the 11-party alliance and one independent.