Thirty candidates have got back their candidature in the hearing on their appeals filed before the Election Commission (EC) against the decision of the returning officers in the scrutiny process for the 12th national parliamentary election.
The hearing of the appeals started at the Nirbachan Bhaban in Agargaon in the capital around 10am and continued till 4pm on Sunday. The hearing will be continued till Friday.
The EC has disposed of a total of 50 appeals. Of them, 30 got the EC's nod to participate in the upcoming election from morning till 1pm.
The candidates include - Mahi B Chowdhury, Bikalpadhara Bangladesh candidate from Munshiganj-1, Yunus Islam Talukder, an independent candidate from Tangail-2 constituency, SM Habibur Rahman, an independent candidate from Jessore-2 constituency, Md Ziaul Haque Zia, an independent candidate from Jamalpur-2 constituency, Talebuzzaman, a Jatiya Party candidate from Noakhali-2 constituency, Md Nasirul Islam Khan, Awami League candidate for Kishoreganj-3 constituency, Mohammad Arifur Rahman, independent candidate for Faridpur-1 constituency and Sheikh Habibur Rahman, Trinamool BNP co-chairman from Khulna-4.
The Election Commission also cancelled the candidatures of 32 others including independent candidate Khandkar Ahsan Habib of Tangail-5 seat and Zaker Party candidate of Jamalpur-2 seat M Abdul Halim Mandal. The EC also put six applications on hold, pending a decision.
Some 561 aggrieved aspirants filed appeals before the Election Commission in the five days from Tuesday to Saturday (December 5-9), challenging the decisions of the returning officers over the cancellation or acceptance of nomination papers submitted to run the upcoming 12th national parliamentary election slated for January.
Seeking to overturn the ROs’ decisions, 42 appeals were submitted with the EC on Tuesday (first day), 141 on Wednesday, 155 on Thursday, 93 on Friday, and 131 appeals on Saturday (final day).
Most of the appeals were lodged against the cancellation of nomination papers by the returning officers and only a handful number of petitions against the acceptance of nomination papers.
A total of 2,716 aspirants including 747 independent ones submitted nomination papers in 300 constituencies throughout the country to run the 12th national parliamentary election slated for January 7 next.
But the returning officers have accepted 1,985 nomination papers and rejected 731 others during the scrutiny conducted on December 1-4 last.
Most of the 731 nomination papers were rejected on three grounds - mismatch in the 1pc voters’ signatures submitted by independent aspirants, loans and utility bills defaults, and dual citizenship.
The last date for withdrawal of candidature is December 17 and the returning officers will distribute electoral symbols among the contenders on December 18.
The candidates can go for electioneering from December 18 to January 5 (8am), 48 hours before the balloting, which will continue from 8am to 4pm without any recess on January 7.
