51 more aspirants get back candidacy

Fifty-one more aspirants regained their candidature on the second day of appeal hearing as the Election Commission (EC) today disposed of 100 more appeals, taking the total number of regaining candidacy to 107 to contest in January 7 general elections.

Of the 100 appeals, 41 were rejected by the commission while the results of eight appeals will be disclosed later.

Led by Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal, the EC delivered the verdicts after reviewing the appeals at the Nirbachan Bhaban in the city’s Agargaon area this afternoon.

Concerned aspirants were present during the appeal hearing with their legal representatives and the essential documents.

Earlier, on Sunday, the EC heard 94 appeals on the first day of appeal hearing while 56 of the aspirants got back their candidature.

The EC will continue hearing 100 appeals everyday until December 15 while there is a scope for the aspirants to go to the High Court if they could not be satisfied with EC’s decision.

A total of 2,716 aspirants submitted nomination papers to vie in the upcoming 12th Jatiya Sangsad (JS) elections. Of them, 1,985 nomination papers were accepted and 731 were cancelled by returning officers (ROs) during the scrutiny.

Challenging ROs decisions over rejection and acceptance of nomination papers, 561 appeals were lodged with the EC between December 5 and 9.
As per the election schedule, the last date for withdrawing candidature is December 17 while the ROs will distribute election symbols among candidates on December 18.

The voting of the 12 Jatiya Sangsad (JS) polls will be held on January 7, 2024. (BSS)