Why are there two nomination papers in Oli Ahmad’s name for president?

A total of three nomination papers have been submitted to the Election Commission (EC) ahead of the upcoming presidential election. Of these, two nomination papers have been submitted in the name of Colonel (Retd.) Oli Ahmad, the candidate of the 11-party alliance. The other has been submitted in the name of BNP candidate Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.

EC Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed disclosed the information at a press briefing held in front of his office after the deadline for submitting nomination papers for the presidential election ended on Thursday.

Asked why two nomination papers had been submitted in Oli Ahmad’s name, the EC senior secretary said, “That is not our matter. We will scrutinize them. If the first one is rejected, then we will scrutinize the second one.”

Meanwhile, Bangladesh Jamaat e Islami has explained why two nomination papers were submitted. The party’s Assistant Secretary General Ehsanul Mahbub Zubayer said that two nomination forms had been submitted to the EC in the name of Colonel (Retd.) Ali Ahmed on behalf of the 11-party alliance. He said this was done so that the second one could be used if there was any factual error in one of them.

Meanwhile, EC Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed said the nomination papers will be scrutinized from 10:00 am on August 16. A representative from the Parliament Secretariat will be present. They will verify the signatures of the candidates.

Earlier, at around 4:00 pm on July 24, Md. Sahabuddin resigned from the presidency citing “personal reasons.” He was the country’s 22nd president.