DHAKA : The Election Commission (EC) has declared valid the nomination papers of Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, the nominee of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), and Dr Oli Ahmed, Bir Bikram, candidate from the Jamaat-e-Islami-led 11-party alliance, in the presidential polls.

At Nirbachan Bhaban in the capital today, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) AMM Nasir Uddin declared their nomination papers valid after verification.

He informed a BNP delegation, led by its standing committee member Dr Abdul Moyeen Khan, that the nomination papers of Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir have been accepted as valid.

Earlier, the CEC accepted the nomination papers of 11-party alliance Oli Ahmed Bir Bikram as valid.

The presidential election will be held on August 20. The scrutiny of nomination papers began at 11:00 am today (Sunday).

The two candidates submitted their nomination papers on the last day of the presidential election on August 13.

On Thursday last, BNP submitted the nomination papers of Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir to the CEC at Nirbachan Bhaban. On the other hand, the 11-party alliance submitted its nomination papers in favour of Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Chairman Colonel (retd) Oli Ahmed.

EC Secretariat Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed said the last date for withdrawal of candidacy is 4:00 pm on August 18 (Tuesday).

Voting will be held in the session hall of Jatiya Sangsad from 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm on August 20 (Thursday), he said.