The ruling alliance has nominated 24 while the opposition alliance nominated 9 female candidates for the 11th parliamentary elections. A good number of them are, however, spouses and daughters of present and former leaders of the two major parties.
The AL-led alliance nominated 17 while the opposition alliance picked 6 candidates from religious and ethnic minority groups.
One of the AL candidates, however, is a woman and religious minority.
The 24 women nominated by the ruling alliance are prime minister Sheikh Hasina for Gopalganj 2, speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury for Rangpur 6, Matia Chowdhury for Sherpur 2, Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury for Faridpur 2, Sahara Khatun for Dhaka 18, Dipu Moni for Chandpur 3, Simin Hossain Rimi for Gazipur 4, Mahbub Ara Gini for Gaibandha 2, Ismat Ara Sadek for Jessore 6, Habibun Nahar for Bagerhat 3, Begum Munnujan Sufian for Khulna 3, Jebunnesa Afroz for Barisal 5, Sagufta Yesmin Emily for Munshiganj 2, Meher Afroz Chumki for Gazipur 5, Jaya Sengupta for Sunamganj 2, Mamtaj Begum for Manikganj 2, Rebeka Momin for Netrokona 4, Selima Ahmed for Cumilla 2, Shahin Akther Chowdhury for Cox’s Bazar 4, Shirin Akhter of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal faction for Feni 1, late Suranjit Sengupta’s wife Jaya Sengupta, also a religious minority for Sunamganj 2, Jatiya Party senior co-chairman Raushan Ershad for Mymensingh 4 and its former secretary general Ruhul Amin Hawladar’s wife Nasrin Jahan Ratna for Potuakhali 6.
The nine female candidates nominated by BNP are BNP standing committee member Salahuddin Ahmed’s wife Hasina Ahmed for Cox’s Bazar 1, late Fazlur Rahman Patal’s wife Kamrun Nahar Shirin for Natore 1, Ruhul Quddus Talukdar Dulu’s wife Sabina Yasmin Natore 2, Dhaka north city unit president MA Qauyum’s wife Shamim Ara Begum for Dhaka 11, former state minister Lutfozzaman Babar’s wife Tahmina Zaman for Netrakona 4, Shama Obaed for Faridpur 2, district BNP leader Hazrat Ali’s daughter Sansila Zebrin for Sherpur 1, Zeba Amin Khan for Jhalakati 2 and singer Rumana Morshed Kanak Chapa for Sirajganj1.
Bangladesh Mahila Parishad president Ayesha Khanam told the media on Saturday that the nominations given by the parties from women were poor and women should get nominations at least in one-third of the 300 constituencies.
The 17  religious and ethnic minority candidates nominated by the Awami League are Narayan Chandra Chanda for Khulna 5, Biren Shikder for Magura 2, Ramesh Chandra Sen for Thakurgaon 1, Ashim Kumar Ukil for Netrakona 3, Manu Majumder for Netrskona 1, Manoranjan Shil Gopal for Dinajpur 1, Sadhan Chandra Majumder for Naogaon 1, Ranajit Kumar Roy for Jessore 5, Shawpan Bhattachrya for Jessore 5, Pankaj Debnath for Barisal 5, Panchanan Biswas for Khulna 1, Mrinal Kanti Das for Munshiganj 3, Jaya Sengupta for Sunamganj 2, Jewel Areng for Mymensingh 1,  Bir Bahabur EU Shoi Singh for Bandarban, Dipankar Talukder for Rangmati and Kujendra Lal Tripura for Khagrachari.
BNP picked six candidates from religious and ethnic minority groups — Goyeshwar Chandra Roy for Dhaka 3, Nitai Roy Chowdhury for Magura 2, Goutam Chakravarty for Tangail 6, Milton Boidya for Madaripur 2, Moni Swapan Dewan for Rangamati and Sachin Prue Jerry for Bandarban.
The two alliances were in last rounds of negotiations for completing nominations by today.

Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council general secretary Rana Dasgupta told the media on Saturday that they were not happy with the nomination of 17 religious and ethnic minority candidates by the AL-led alliance.
‘We wanted at least 30 seats from the alliance and we might be happy if 5-6 more candidates were nominated from the minorities,’ Rana said.
Pro-BNP Bangladesh Hindu Buddist Christian Kalyan Front convener Goutam Chakravarry said that they expected more candidates from religious and ethnic minority communities.