Staff Reporter :
A total of 543 aggrieved candidates have filed petitions with the Election Commission (EC) challenging rejection of their nomination papers submitted for the upcoming national election.
Those who filed appeals were mostly BNP candidates, whose nominations were rejected by the returning officers (ROs) during scrutiny. BNP had 141 nominations rejected candidates, while the number is three only in the case of Awami League, sources in EC said.
The aggrieved candidates thronged the EC headquarters in Dhaka on Wednesday, as it was the last day to file appeals.
A total of 222 candidates filed petitions with the EC on the third and final day of submission that began on Monday, EC Secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed said at a press briefing in the evening.
On Monday, 84 candidates filed appeals, while 237 on Tuesday. Helal Uddin Ahmed said, the hearings on the appeals will begin tomorrow (Thursday) and continue until Saturday.
“The EC will dispose the appeals of 160 aspirants on the first day of the hearing, 149 appeals on the second day (Friday) and the rest 232 appeals on the last day (Saturday),” he added. ROs on Sunday accepted a total of 2,279 nomination papers after scrutiny. They rejected 786, submitted across the country’s 300 constituencies, to contest in the 11th parliamentary election. On the last day, review appeals were filed with the EC for imprisoned BNP chief and former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, whose all three nomination papers were cancelled after the scrutiny by returning officers (ROs), as she has been declared ineligible to contest the upcoming national election for two graft convictions.
