EC begins hearing appeals against nomination decisions today

The Election Commission (EC) is scheduled to begin hearing and resolving appeals today (Saturday) from candidates whose nomination papers were rejected by the returning officers.

At least 640 appeals were filed with EC over the five days from Monday to Friday. Among these, as of 8:00 pm on Friday, 171 candidates had lodged their appeals.

The appeal hearings will continue until January 18 at the auditorium of EC headquarters, the Nirbachan Bhaban, in the capital's Agargaon area.

In a statement issued on Friday, the Election Commission (EC) instructed that no more than three individuals, including the appellant, are allowed to enter the hearing room.

EC officials received the appeals at booths installed on the EC office premises.

EC officials in charge of the booth said the presence of nomination aspirants was significant from the morning on the final day.

They also said that although the deadline for filing appeals was set at 5:00 pm, candidates who arrived at the election building earlier were allowed to submit their appeals. The process continued until 6:00 pm.

According to a circular issued earlier by the EC, any aggrieved stakeholder-including candidates, banks or financial institutions, government service providers, or any person duly authorised by a candidate-may file an appeal against a returning officer's decision to accept or reject a nomination paper within the scheduled timeframe.

Meanwhile, BNP candidate Manjurul Ahsan Munshi has filed an application seeking the cancellation of the nomination of National Citizen Party (NCP) Chief Organizer (Southern Region) Hasnat Abdullah

He submitted the application to the EC on Friday.

Meanwhile, Hasnat Abdullah also filed an appeal seeking the cancellation of Manjurul Ahsan Munshi's candidacy.

Of the total 2568 nomination papers submitted across the country, 1842 candidates were declared legal while nomination papers of 723 candidates were rejected by the returning officers.

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