The hearing of appeals filed against the decisions of returning officers during the scrutiny of nomination papers for the 13th National Parliamentary Election concludes on Sunday.
The Election Commission (EC) began hearing the appeals on January 10. After completing the hearings, the constitutional body will publish the final list of candidates.
On Sunday, the EC will hold the final day of appeal hearings at the auditorium of the Election Commission building in Agargaon in the capital.
The hearings will be chaired by Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin, with other election commissioners also in attendance. Nearly fifty appeals will be heard from 10am to 5pm. The EC has also said that decisions will be given on pending appeals.
During the scrutiny of nomination papers from December 30 to January 4, returning officers rejected the nomination papers of 723 candidates. After the initial scrutiny, 1,842 candidates were declared valid, excluding four whose candidacies were cancelled through appeals.
Over eight consecutive days of appeal hearings starting January 10, 393 candidates regained their candidacies, bringing the total number of valid candidates so far to 2,236.
However, due to the suspension of electoral activities in the Pabna-1 and Pabna-2 constituencies, 11 candidates who were earlier declared valid in those two seats will be excluded from the list.
The EC issued a gazette notification announcing a revised schedule for these constituencies on Thursday night.
Under the new schedule, the deadline for submitting nomination papers in Pabna-1 and Pabna-2 is Sunday.
Scrutiny will take place on Monday. Appeals may be filed from January 20 to January 24 and will be disposed of on January 25.
The deadline for withdrawal of candidacy is January 26 and symbols will be allocated on January 27. Voting in these two constituencies will also be held on February 12.
A total of 645 appeals were filed with the Election Commission against the decisions of returning officers during nomination scrutiny. Hearings for appeals numbered 511 to 610 were completed on Saturday. The process of accepting appeals began on January 5 and ended on January 9.
According to the revised election schedule, January 18 is the final day for disposing of appeals. The deadline for withdrawal of candidacy is January 20.
Returning officers will publish the final list of candidates and allocate electoral symbols on January 21.
Election campaigning will begin on January 22 and continue until 7:30am on February 10. Voting will be held on Thursday, February 12, from 7:30am to 4:30pm.