A total of 2,034 candidates are contesting in the upcoming 13th Jatiya Sangsad (National Parliament) election and referendum, scheduled for February 12.Md Saiful Islam, Director (Operations) of the National Identity Registration Wing of the Election Commission (EC) and Member Secretary of the Central Coordination Committee for the polls and referendum, confirmed the figures. He said that among the candidates, 275 are running as independents.According to EC sources, 51 political parties are participating in the election. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has fielded the highest number of candidates, with 291 contesting under the paddy sheaf symbol.Following BNP, Islami Andolon Bangladesh has nominated 258 candidates with the Hatpakha (hand fan) symbol. Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami has 229 candidates running with the Daripalla (scale) symbol, while Jatiya Party has nominated 198 candidates under the plough symbol.The National Citizen Party (NCP) has fielded 32 candidates with the water lily bud symbol. Among independent candidates, 76 are contesting under the football symbol. In terms of constituencies, Dhaka-12 has the highest number of contestants with 15 candidates, while Pirojpur-1 has the lowest with just two candidates, according to the EC.