Around 2,000 candidates to contest Bangladesh's general election

DHAKA, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- Around 2,000 candidates are set to contest the polls for Bangladesh's 13th general election to be held next month, according to the Bangladeshi Election Commission.

The commission released the updated figures on Tuesday night following the completion of nomination submission, scrutiny, appeals, withdrawals, and the finalization of the list of contesting candidates.

Following Tuesday's deadline for withdrawals, an official confirmed that 1,967 candidates are now contesting in 298 of the country's 300 constituencies. The number is anticipated to increase further once candidate lists from the two remaining constituencies are finalized.

The deadline for withdrawals in those constituencies was extended to Jan. 26 due to a legal dispute over boundary delimitation.

Some 3,000 nomination papers were collected from 69 returning officers to contest the polls to be held on Feb. 12.

The commission last month said that more than 127 million voters had been registered for the election for the first time since former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and left the country in August 2024. ■