EC receives 543 appeals against rejection of candidacy

Most of the aspirants whose candidacy for the parliamentary electiosn was rejected have appealed against the returning officers’ decisions.

They include BNP Chaiperson Khaleda Zia, the Jatiya Party’s recently ousted secretary general ABM Ruhul Amin Howlader, film actor Sohel Rana, Jatiya Oikya Front nominee Reza Kibria, Ganajagaran Mancha Spokesperson Imran H Sarker, the BNP’s Mir Nasir Uddin, and Golam Maula Rony, an ex-Awami League MP who is seeking to run as a BNP candidate this time.

The EC had received a total of 3,065 properly filled out nomination papers and accepted 2,279 after scrutiny, rejecting 786 nominations on different grounds.

After Sunday’s scrutiny, as many as 82 lodged appeals on Monday, 234 on Tuesday and 222 others on Wednesday, taking the total to 543 in three days.

Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda and election commissioners Mahbub Talukdar, Rafiqul Islam, Kabita Khanam and Shahadat Hossain Chowdhury will hear the appeals on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

EC Secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed said they will hear the appeals based on their serial, which means Khaleda’s appeal may be heard on the last day – Saturday.

Out of the 786 rejected candidatures, 384 are of independent ones, most of whom had inconsistencies in mandatory support of at least 1 percent voters.

Those nominated by the political parties were mostly loan defaulters, or have unpaid bills or still holds posts in local government bodies. Many others had allegedly provided false information.

If any candidate remains unhappy with the EC’s final decision, they can go to court.

The returning officers will allocate symbols after deadline for nomination withdrawal ends on Dec 9.

The candidates can start the campaign for the Dec 30 election afterwards.