Appeal hearings on candidacy continue at EC for 4th day

The fourth day of hearings on appeals against the acceptance and cancellation of nomination papers for the 13th Jatiya Sangsad elections began this morning at the Election Commission (EC).

The hearings started at 10am today at the auditorium of the EC headquarters in Agargaon here. Appeals filed against decisions of returning officers are being heard by the full Commission, chaired by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) A M M Nasir Uddin, and will continue until 5pm.

According to the schedule announced by the Commission, appeals numbered 211 to 280 are being heard today.

Director (Public Relations) of the EC Secretariat Md Ruhul Amin Mallik told BSS that hearings on appeals numbered 281 to 350 will be held on Wednesday, 351 to 420 on Thursday, and 421 to 490 on Friday. The appeal hearings will continue until 18 January.

Meanwhile, on Monday, the third day of hearings, 41 candidates regained their candidacy.

EC Secretariat Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed informed that a total of 71 appeals were heard on the day, of which 41 were accepted, 25 rejected, four kept pending, while one appeal from Pabna-2 constituency was not heard.

EC officials said that over the past three days, a total of 150 candidates have regained their candidacy through the appeal hearings.

Of them, 51 candidates regained their candidacy on the first day (though 52 appeals were accepted, one was filed by an opposing candidate), 58 on the second day, and 41 on the third day.

In the ongoing election process, a total of 645 appeals have been filed with the Election Commission against the acceptance and cancellation of nomination papers.

Earlier, on 4 January, returning officers declared 723 nomination papers invalid following scrutiny.