Bangla registers record number of poll candidates

Dhaka, Dec 27: More than 4,000 candidates have registered to contest parliamentary elections in Bangladesh next month, double that of the vote five years ago, Election Commission officials today said.

The election, scheduled for January 22 will be held in 300 constituencies to choose as many legislators.

A final list of candidates will be announced in the first week of January, the commission said.

''We have received 4,146 nomination papers by yesterday, the last day for applying to contest the election,'' a commission official said.

The 2001 election, which the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) of Begum Khaleda Zia won by a landslide, had nearly 2,000 contestants.

Khaleda ended her five-year term as prime minister late in October and handed power to an interim government, headed by President Iajuddin Ahmed.

The election participants include a four-party alliance led by Khaleda and a 14-party group headed by her main rival, Sheikh Hasina, also a former prime minister.

Both the women, who alternated as prime ministers for the last 15 years, have agreed to give about a third of the total parliament seats to their allies.

Reuters