On the second day of appeals against nomination rejections, 235 candidates appealed to the Election Commission (EC) including Ruhul Amin Howlader, Sohel Rana of the Jatiya Party and Ruhul Quddus Talukder Dulu of the BNP.
As of 12:30pm on Tuesday, 85 rejected nominees filed appeals, on the second day, challenging the rejection of their nominations.
On Monday the total number of appeals was 84 and the second day brings the total to 319.The last date of submitting petitions is on 5 December.
Ganajagaran Mancha spokesperson Imran H Sarkar (Kurigram 4) has also submitted a petition to the commission as an independent aspirant.
BNP leader Mir Nasir's son, Barrister Mir Mohammed Helaluddin (Chittagong 5) and Dr AZM Zahid Hossain (Sherpur 3) submitted petitions.
Jatiya Party Secretary General ABM Ruhul Amin Howlader (Patuakhali 1), Jatiya Party aspirant Sohel Rana (Barisal 2), BNP aspirants Ruhul Quddus Talukder Dulu (Natore 2), Sabira Sultana (Jessore 2) were among those who submitted petitions on the second day.
However, no petition from BNP jailed chairperson Khaleda Zia has been filed challenging the rejection of her nomination papers submitted to contest from the Bogra 6 and 7, and the Feni 1 constituencies.
On 2nd day, 28 petitions from Rangpur, 22 from Rajshahi, 68 from Dhaka, 12 from Barisal, 15 from Sylhet, 16 from Mymensingh, 18 from Khulna and 56 petitions from Chittagong have been filed with the Election Commission.
On Tuesday, the commission arranged separate booths, on its premises, to receive petitions from rejected nominees of eight divisions.
The returning officers on Sunday after scrutiny, accepted total 2,279 nomination papers and turned down 786 submitted in the country’s 300 constituencies to contest the 11th parliamentary election.
After filing a petition, BNP Organizing Secretary Ruhul Quddus Talukder Dulu – whose nomination was rejected because of his conviction in two cases – said the government wants to conduct the upcoming general election like the previous one in 2014.
Election Commissioner Mahbub Talukder speaks to reporters while visiting the appeal submission process at the commission premises in Agargaon on December 4, 2018 | Mehedi Hasan/Dhaka Tribune
"I hope to get justice from the commission—beyond the government conspiracy. If not, I will move [the case] to the court," said Dulu, who filed his nomination to contest for Natore 2 constituency.
Election Commissioner Mahbub Talukder visited the premises to observe the appeal submission process.
He said: "The hearing of appeals will be undertaken lawfully. The commission will play a neutral role during the hearing sessions."
84 rejected nominees file appeals on Monday
The appeals process, which began on Monday, will continue until Wednesday.
On Monday, the commission received 84 applications.
The hearings of the appeals will be held on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
If the decision to reject a candidacy is upheld during a hearing, the applicant can move to court.
Nearly one-fourth of the nomination papers submitted by nominees, countrywide, were rejected.
On Sunday, the commission scrutinized a total of 3,065 nomination papers, and rejected 786 applications. It approved the nomination papers of 2,279 candidates.
When is the election?
The 11th general election is scheduled to be held on December 30.
The commission scrutinized nomination papers on Sunday and the deadline to withdraw one’s candidacy is December 9.