Dhaka: A total of 197 appeals have been filed with the Election Commission (EC) so far against the returning officers’ decisions on acceptance and rejection of nomination papers for the upcoming 13th Jatiya Sangsad election, said official today.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, the filing of appeals commenced at 10 am today at the EC building located in the capital’s Agargaon. Candidates have been submitting their appeals at 10 regional booths established at the appeal filing centre. By 12:15 pm today, 197 appeals had been filed over three days, with the process having started on the previous Monday and scheduled to continue until January 9.
On the second day, Tuesday, the EC received 122 appeals against the decisions on acceptance and rejection of nomination papers. On the first day, 41 appeals were filed against the rejection of nomination papers, with one appeal against the acceptance of a nomination paper. Of the total 197 appeals filed, 23 originated from the Khulna region, 22 from Rajshahi, 16 from Rangpur, 12 from Chattogram, 24 from Cumilla, 42 from Dhaka, 24 from Mymensingh, nine from Barishal, and 14 from the districts under the Faridpur region. Notably, one appeal from the Cumilla region was against the acceptance of a nomination paper.
On January 4, the final day of scrutiny, returning officers or assistant returning officers declared 1,842 nomination papers valid, canceling the candidacy of 723 aspirants out of a total of 2,568 nomination papers submitted in 300 constituencies nationwide.
The EC has issued a notice regarding the filing, hearing, and disposal of appeals against acceptance and rejection of nomination papers. It stated that any candidate, bank, financial institution, or government service-providing institution aggrieved by the returning officer’s order may file an appeal with the EC in the form of a memorandum within five days of the completion of scrutiny, along with the required documentation.
The deadline for filing appeals is January 9, at 5 pm. Hearings on the filed appeals are scheduled from January 10 to January 18 at the auditorium of the Election Building (Basement-2), where the full commission will conduct the hearings.
The appeals hearings will be organized sequentially, with the first set of appeals, numbered 1 to 70, beginning at 10 am on January 10. The subsequent hearings will follow a set schedule until January 18. Post-hearing, the appeal results will be displayed on monitors, and PDF copies of the decisions will be emailed to the returning officers and concerned parties. The decisions will also be published on the Election Commission’s website, and copies of the appeal verdicts will be distributed according to the schedule through designated officials at the reception desk of the Election Building.