The aspirants from 51 out of 59 registered political parties, along with hundreds of independent candidates, submitted nominations to contest the upcoming 13th national parliamentary election, according to the data compiled by the Election Commission.
Among the parties, the highest 331 aspirants from Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) submitted nomination papers (multiple candidates in some constituencies) to run the election scheduled for February 12, 2026.
Besides, 276 aspirants from Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, 268 from Islami Andolon Bangladesh, 224 from Jatiya Party (JaPa), 104 from Gano Odhikar Parishad, 94 from Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish, 65 from Communist Party of Bangladesh CPB), 53 aspirants from AB Party, 44 from National Citizen Party-NCP, 42 from Insaniat Bangladesh and 41 aspirants from Basod.
The other political parties who joined the race have less than 40 aspirants each.
Read more: Bangladesh Polls: Registration time for postal voting extended till Jan 5
Several registered parties, including Samyabadi Dal (ML), Krishak Sramik Janata League, NAP, Workers Party, Bikalpadhara Bangladesh, Bangladesh Tarikat Federation, Trinamool BNP and BNM have no aspirants in the election.
A total of 2,569 aspirants, including 478 independent candidates, filed nomination papers in the country's 300 constituencies.
The Election Commission is now scrutinising the nomination papers before finalising the list of valid candidates for the polls.
Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin on December 11 last announced the schedule to arrange the 13th parliamentary election and the referendum on the July National Charter (Constitutional Reform) Implementation Order simultaneously on February 12 next.
Read more: Election season kicks off in Bangladesh; 2,582 candidates submitted nomination papers
According to the election schedule, the deadline for the submission of nomination papers was December 29, while the last date for the withdrawal of candidature is January 20. The election campaign will start on January 22 and continue till 48 hours before the balloting period (7:30am on February 10).
The time for the scrutiny of nomination papers is on December 30-January 4, while the appeals against the decisions of the returning officers can be filed from January 5 to 9 and the appeals will be settled from January 10 to 18.