44 more regain candidacy on 8th day of EC appeal hearings

The Election Commission (EC) restored the candidacies of another 44 aspirants on Saturday, the eighth day of appeal hearings challenging returning officers’ decisions on nomination papers for the 13th parliamentary polls.

With the new figures, around 400 aspirants have so far regained eligibility to contest the upcoming national election.

According to the commission, a total of 112 appeals were heard during the day’s proceedings. Of those, 45 were approved, 37 rejected, and 19 were kept pending.

In addition, nine appeals were withdrawn and the applicants of two appeals were absent.

The hearings were conducted by the full commission under the chairmanship of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) AMM Nasir Uddin.

In the day’s most notable decision, the EC cancelled the candidacy of Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s Monzurul Ahsan Munshi and upheld that of National Citizen Party candidate Abul Hasnat, popularly known as Hasnat Abdullah, in Cumilla-4.

The decision came after the commission heard appeal petitions filed by both candidates against each other.

In total, 645 appeal applications have been filed with the Election Commission against returning officers’ decisions made during the scrutiny of nomination papers.

On the final day of scrutiny, 4 January, returning officers or assistant returning officers in 300 constituencies declared 1,842 nomination papers valid and rejected 723 others out of a total of 2,568 nomination papers submitted for the parliamentary election.

On 11 December, the Election Commission announced the schedule to arrange the 13th national election and the referendum on the July National Charter on 12 February.

According to the schedule, the commission will settle the appeals by 18 January.

The last date for the withdrawal of candidature is 20 January. The election campaign will start on 22 January and continue until 7:30am on 10 February.