Dhaka: A total of 131 appeals were submitted to the Election Commission (EC) on the third day concerning the decisions of the Returning Officer to either accept or cancel nomination papers for the upcoming 13th National Parliament election. This brings the total number of appeals filed over the past three days to 295, as stated by EC officials.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, the appeals were collected at 10 regional booths located at the appeal filing center within the Agargaon Election Commission building in the capital. The breakdown of the 131 appeals filed on Wednesday includes 11 from Khulna, 15 from Rajshahi, nine from Rangpur, 10 from Chattogram, 19 from Cumilla, 31 from Dhaka, 16 from Mymensingh, nine from Barisal, and seven from Faridpur districts.
The previous day, Tuesday, saw 122 appeals filed against similar decisions, while on the first day, there were 41 appeals against the cancellation of nomination papers and one against their acceptance. As of the last selection day on January 4, returning officers or their assistants declared 1,842 nomination papers valid and 723 invalid out of 2,568 submissions across 300 constituencies.
An official notice from the EC outlines the procedure for appeals, stating that any candidate, bank, financial institution, or government service provider aggrieved by the Returning Officer's decision can file an appeal within five days of the nomination paper selection. The appeal period is open from January 5 to January 9, closing at 5 PM.
The hearings for these appeals are set to occur between January 10 and 18 at the auditorium in the Election Building. The full commission is scheduled to conduct these hearings, with a structured schedule for appeal numbers. The outcomes of the hearings will be communicated via monitors, PDFs to relevant parties' emails, and updates on the Election Commission's website. Additionally, a hard copy of the verdict will be available at the Election Building's reception desk.