The Election Commission (EC) has announced the schedule for the Thakurgaon-1 by-poll, setting October 29 as the polling date.

The deadline for submitting nomination papers is September 27, while scrutiny of the nominations will be held on September 29, EC Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed announced this afternoon at the commission's headquarters in Agargaon, Dhaka.

He said appeals against the scrutiny decisions can be submitted from September 30 to October 4, and the EC will dispose of the appeals on October 6.

Candidates can withdraw their nominations until October 7, while electoral symbols will be allocated on October 8, he added.

A total of 515,525 registered voters will cast their ballots at 989 polling centres in the by-poll. The election will be conducted by 3,152 polling officials, including 185 presiding officers, 989 assistant presiding officers and 1,978 polling officers.

Akhtar Ahmed said the Thakurgaon district election officer will serve as the returning officer for the by-poll. Around 5,500 postal ballots will be distributed among in-country and out-of-country voters.

Earlier, on September 7, the EC

Election Commission declared the Thakurgaon-1 parliamentary seat vacant on August 21 following Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir's swearing-in as president.