EC holds final day of nomination appeal hearings
Over the last eight days of the appeals process, a total of 396 aspiring candidates regained their candidacy after successfully challenging the initial rejection of their nomination papers
The Election Commission (EC) today (18 January) commenced the final day of hearings for appeals filed against decisions of returning officers regarding nomination papers for the upcoming general election.
The hearings began at 10:30am at Nirbachan Bhaban in the capital's Agargaon, with Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) AMM Nasir Uddin presiding over the session.
The commission is expected to deliver decisions on approximately 50 appeals throughout the day.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
Over the last eight days of the appeals process, a total of 396 aspiring candidates regained their candidacy after successfully challenging the initial rejection of their nomination papers.
Conversely, the EC upheld the disqualification of four individuals whose nominations had previously been deemed valid.
The scrutiny process, held between 30 December and 4 January, initially saw the rejection of 723 nomination papers out of the total submissions, leaving 1,842 valid candidates at that stage.
Following the rejections, 645 aspirants filed appeals with the commission between 5 and 9 January to clear the path for their participation in the polls.
Once today's session concludes, the Election Commission will have a final list of valid candidates, barring any further legal challenges in court.
The number of valid candidates has now reached 2,236 as 396 appeals were returned in eight consecutive days, from 10 to 17 January.
Today, the hearing of appeals from 611 to 645 and the pending ones will be held.
Meanwhile, the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal is staging a sit-in protest in front of the Election Commission for alleged biased behaviour and questionable decisions of the EC in the postal ballot, and political involvement in decisions on various issues.
