Election Commission gets 131 more nomination appeals

Total number of appeals reaches 295 within three days of filing window

The Election Commission (EC) has received 131 additional appeals against returning officers’ decisions on nomination papers for the parliamentary elections.

With this, the total number of appeals filed within three days reached 295, Ruhul Amin Mallik, public relations director at the EC Secretariat, confirmed.

More than 2,500 nomination papers were submitted by independent and party candidates to contest in the election.

Between Dec 30 and Jan 4, returning officers rejected 723 nominations, leaving 1,842 candidates with valid nominations.

The process of filing appeals against the returning officers’ decisions began on Monday. On the first day, 42 appeals were lodged, followed by 122 on Tuesday, and 131 on Wednesday. Appeals can be filed until Jan 9.

According to the election schedule, the EC will hear and dispose of appeals between Jan 10 and Jan 18.

The deadline for withdrawal of candidacies is Jan 20. Returning officers will publish the final list of candidates and allocate electoral symbols on Jan 21.

Election campaigning will begin on Jan 22 and may continue until 7:30am on Feb 10. Voting is scheduled for Feb 12.