EC validates 53 more aspirants on 4th day of appeal hearings

The Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday allowed 53 more appeals on the fourth day of hearings against returning officers' decisions to accept or reject nomination papers for the 13th national election, restoring the candidacy of 53 aspirants.

Senior Secretary of the Election Commission Secretariat Akhtar Ahmed disclosed the information.

He said a total of 70 appeals were heard on the fourth day, of which 53 were allowed and 17 were rejected.

EC officials said that following the conclusion of appeal hearings over the past four days, a total of 203 candidates have so far regained their candidacy.

Earlier on Monday, the commission allowed 41 appeals, rejected 24 and kept four pending. The hearing of appeal No. 1612026 was not held as electoral activities in the Pabna-2 constituency were suspended. Meanwhile, independent candidate Shakila Farzana of Chattogram-5 withdrew her appeal (No. 1572026).

On Sunday, the EC allowed 58 appeals, rejected seven and kept six pending. On the first day of hearings on Saturday, 52 appeals were allowed out of 70, while 15 were rejected. One appeal against the acceptance of a candidate's nomination was also upheld.

Tuesday's hearings, covering appeals numbered 211 to 280, began at 10:00am at the EC auditorium (Basement-2) in the capital's Agargaon. After a one-hour recess at noon, the full commission, chaired by Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin, resumed the hearings and continued until 4:00pm.

EC Director (Public Relations) and official spokesperson Md Ruhul Amin Mallik said the appeal hearings, which began on Saturday at 10:00am, will continue until January 18.

A total of 645 appeals were filed with the Election Commission challenging returning officers' decisions made during the scrutiny of nomination papers for the 13th parliamentary election.

On the final day of scrutiny on January 4, returning and assistant returning officers declared 1,842 nomination papers valid and rejected 723 out of 2,568 submissions across the country's 300 constituencies.