No more ‘staged elections’ this time: CEC

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) AMM Nasir Uddin has said there will be no "staged election" this time, unlike in the past, asserting that the Election Commission believes in justice and that all stakeholders will receive fair treatment from the commission.

He made the remarks today (8 January) after visiting the appeal booths set up at the Election Commission (EC) Secretariat premises in Agargaon, where appeals are being submitted against the acceptance or rejection of nomination papers.

According to the EC, today marked the fourth day of the appeal process. From early morning, aggrieved applicants from different parts of the country have been arriving at the commission to submit appeals, either seeking restoration of their cancelled nominations or challenging the validity of rival candidates' nominations.

Appeals can be submitted until 9 January. The hearing of appeals will begin on 10 January and continue until 18 January. A total of 295 appeals have been filed over the last three days.

The CEC stated that applications challenging the acceptance or rejection of nominations would be resolved strictly based on legal grounds. "We believe in transparency. The commission will ensure a level playing field and equal opportunities for all," he said.

He added that the entire appeal hearing process would be highly transparent and that each application would be examined thoroughly before decisions are made in accordance with the law.

Nomination papers: Number of appeals reaches 469 in four days

A total of 174 more appeals were filed with the Election Commission on Thursday against decisions made by returning officers during the scrutiny of nomination papers for the 13th national parliamentary election. With this, the total number of appeals filed over four days has reached 469.

Election Commission Public Relations Director Ruhul Amin Mallik said on Thursday that as of today, 164 appeals were filed against the rejection of nomination papers, while ten appeals were filed against their acceptance. More than 2,500 nomination papers were submitted by independent and party candidates to contest the election