Election Commission restores 58 candidacies on appeal in second-day hearings

The tally of valid candidates rises to 1,950

The Election Commission has cleared 58 more candidates to contest in the Feb 12 polls, pushing the total number of valid contenders close to 2,000 on the second day of reviews.

Mahmudur Rahman Manna, president of Nagorik Oikko, whose nomination in the Bogura-2 constituency was among those declared valid on Sunday.

With Sunday’s decisions, as many as 109 candidates have had their candidacy restored over the past two days, while one previously valid candidate has been dropped.

The appeal hearings were held from morning to afternoon at the Nirbachan Bhaban, led by Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin.

On Saturday, one candidacy was cancelled, while 51 appeals were allowed, making those applicants valid candidates.

After scrutiny following the submission of nomination papers for the parliamentary elections, there had been 1,842 valid candidates. The number has now increased to 1,950 in total.

EC Director of Public Relations Ruhul Amin Mallik said that on the second day, seven appeals were rejected and six others left pending on Sunday.

Also, the nomination of independent candidate Md Mohiuddin from Munshiganj-3, which had been pending on Saturday, was declared valid.

Hearings on appeals numbered 141 to 210 will be held on Monday from 10am to 5pm.

A total of 645 appeal applications have been filed, with all hearings scheduled to be completed by Jan 17. Under the election schedule, Jan 20 is the last date for the withdrawal of candidacy. The final list of candidates will be published the following day, when electoral symbols will also be allotted.