A total of 2,034 candidates are contesting in the 13th Jatiya Sangsad (National Parliament) Election and Referendum, scheduled to be held on February 12.
Md Saiful Islam, Director (Operations) of the National Identity Registration Wing of the Election Commission (EC) and Member Secretary of the Central Coordination Committee, shared the information with state-run BSS.
He said that out of the total candidates, 275 are independent contestants.
According to EC sources, 51 political parties are taking part in the election. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has fielded the highest number of candidates, with 291 contestants running under the paddy sheaf symbol.
Islami Andolon Bangladesh has nominated the second highest number of candidates, with 258 contenders using the hand fan symbol. Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami has fielded 229 candidates with the scale symbol, while the Jatiya Party has nominated 198 candidates with the plough symbol.
The National Citizen Party (NCP) has fielded 32 candidates using the water lily bud symbol. Among independent candidates, 76 are contesting with the football symbol.
Meanwhile, Dhaka-12 constituency has the highest number of candidates, with 15 contestants, while Pirojpur-1 has the lowest number, with only two candidates, the EC said.