National polls: EC hearings restore candidacies of most petitioners
According to the schedule announced by the Commission, appeals bearing serial numbers 71 to 140 are being heard today.
A majority of aspirants who challenged the rejection of their nomination papers have regained eligibility to contest the 13th parliamentary election, as the Election Commission (EC) adopted a lenient approach towards minor errors and unintentional mistakes found in nomination documents and affidavits ahead of the 12 February polls.
The commission that acts as the electoral appeal tribunal gave the candidacy back to 51 aspirants out of 67 petitioners heard yesterday, while 27 aspirants out of 35 petitioners heard till 1pm today (11 January).
The commission, chaired by Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin, accepted a total of 52 petitions, rejected 15 others and kept the rest three pending. With the EC's decision, 51 candidates were reinstated in the electoral race and one candidate lost candidacy as the petition filed against the acceptance of his nomination paper was granted by the Electoral Appeal Tribunal.
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Independent candidate for Dhaka-9 constituency Tasnim Jara and Jamaat-e-Islami aspirant for Cox's Bazar-2 AHM Hamidur Rahman Azad were among the petitioners whose appeals were accepted on Saturday.
Todat, the EC heard a total of 35 petitions till 1pm. Among these, 27 petitions were accepted, seven others were turned down and the rest three were kept pending. The Election Commission will hear some 70 petitions on Sunday.
Jamaat aspirant for Jamalpur-3 Mujibur Rahman Azadi and Former MP and Jatiyo Party aspirant for Bogura-2 Shariful Islam Zinnah regained their candidacy back on Sunday.
A total of 645 aggrieved aspirants filed appeal petitions by January-9 deadline, challenging the decisions of 69 returning officers – two divisional commissioners (Dhaka and Chattogram), 64 district deputy commissioners and three regional election officers (Dhaka, Chattogram and Khulna)—over the cancellation and acceptance of the nomination papers.
The Election Commission will hear and dispose of all the petitions by 18 January.
Earlier, the returning officers declared 1,842 nomination papers valid, while 723 others invalid during the scrutiny from 30 December to 4 January.
A total of 2,568 aspirants submitted nomination papers to run the upcoming national election from the country's 300 constituencies within the 29 December deadline. Since BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia passed away, her three nomination papers were not scrutinised.
The Election Commission on 11 December announced the polls schedule to arrange the 13th parliamentary election and the referendum on the July National Charter (Constitutional Reform) Implementation Order simultaneously on 12 February 2026.
According to the schedule, the late date for withdrawal of candidature is January 20. The election campaign will start on 22 January and continue till (7:30am on 10 February) 48 hours before the balloting period.
