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Tasnim Jara, a former National Citizen Party (NCP) leader, regained her candidacy status on Saturday, the first day of the appeal hearing.
The Election Commission has upheld the candidacies of Tasnim Jara and Jamaat-e-Islami's AHM Hamidur Rahman Azad for the upcoming national election.
The decision was made on Saturday after the EC heard their appeals against the rejection of their nomination papers, reports bdnews24.com.
Jara, who is seeking to run from the Dhaka-9 constituency, resigned from the NCP in December amid debate over its possible alignment with a Jamaat-e-Islami-led alliance. She subsequently submitted her nomination as an independent candidate.
Her nomination had initially been rejected due to alleged discrepancies in the list of 1 per cent of voters submitted in support of her candidacy. Following her appeal, the EC overturned that decision, declaring her nomination valid.
In a separate ruling, the EC also reinstated the nomination of the Jamaat-backed candidate Azad for the Cox’s Bazar-2 constituency, which includes Moheshkhali and Kutubdia.
Speaking to reporters after the hearing, his lawyer, Barrister Mahmud Al Mamun Himu, said the appeal had been accepted.
“Hamidur Rahman Azad’s nomination was rejected during scrutiny on January 2. We appealed to the Election Commission, and today the appeal has been upheld,” he said.
The nomination had been cancelled by the Cox’s Bazar district administration and the returning officer, Mohammad A Mannan, citing what he described as “legal complications”.
Azad’s lawyer Mohammad Arif said the case referenced by the returning officer dated back to the period of the Awami League's rule and involved a contempt of court conviction, for which Azad had already served a three-month sentence. He added that an appeal in the case was still pending in the higher courts.
He also said the case was not related to a specific criminal offence and alleged that the returning officer decided without hearing the defence.
According to Azad’s affidavit, he has been named in 70 cases, the majority of which have either been withdrawn or ended in acquittal. Only one case is listed as currently under appeal.
The contempt case was filed in 2013, accusing Azad of making derogatory remarks about the war crimes trials and of issuing what were described as threats of civil war.
The EC said a total of 645 appeals had been filed nationwide against decisions made by returning officers during the nomination scrutiny process.
Appeal hearings, which began on Saturday, are scheduled to continue until January 18. The EC said copies of rulings from 210 appeal hearings held on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday would be issued by Monday.