EC restores candidacy of 56 aspirants on first day of appeal hearing

Independents make up the majority of the candidates cleared to contest the polls

The Election Commission has reinstated the candidacy of 56 aspirants who were initially disqualified for the 12th general elections upon reviewing their appeals.

The regulator also rejected the appeals of 32 candidates and kept pending the decision over the candidacy of six people on the first day of the hearings on Sunday.

The majority of the candidates whose appeals were approved were independents, including Abdus Salam from Chattogram-8.

Awami League nominee Nasirul Islam Khan's candidacy for Kishoreganj-3 has been restored, allowing him to compete against Jatiya Party General Secretary Mujibul Haque Chunnu. Three Jatiya Party candidates were also cleared to contest the polls.

The EC will hear appeals from the candidates until Dec 15.

A total of 29 parties and 2,712 candidates are gearing up to participate in the parliamentary polls on Jan 7.

After scrutinising nomination papers, the EC disqualified 731 election hopefuls, and 561 of them sought reinstatement.

Aggrieved candidates still have the option to challenge the EC's decision at the High Court.