No poll suspension in Khaleda Zia’s three seats: EC

Election Commission (EC) officials said voting will be held in the three constituencies where former prime minister and BNP chief Khaleda Zia had submitted nomination papers following her death, reports bdnews24.com.

Returning officers said the electoral process would not be halted because Khaleda died before the scrutiny of nominations was completed.

Khaleda had filed nomination papers in Feni-1, Bogura-7 and Dinajpur-3 for the 13th parliamentary election. More than 2,500 candidates have submitted nomination papers nationwide across the country's 300 constituencies.

Election officials said five candidates filed papers in Bogura-7, while 10 candidates each filed in Dinajpur-3 and Feni-1.The Khaleda died around 6:00 am on Tuesday, before the scrutiny process began. Under electoral law, an election may be cancelled and rerun if a valid candidate dies after nominations are finalised. Bogura Deputy Commissioner and Returning Officer Md Toufiqur Rahman said Khaleda's nomination would not proceed through scrutiny, but the overall election would continue.

"As multiple candidates from the same party have filed nominations and symbols have not yet been allocated, the electoral process in Bogura-7 will not be affected," he said.