EC approves 52 appeals, rejects 15 on first day of hearings

The Election Commission (EC) today approved a total of 52 appeals on the first day of hearings against Returning Officers’ decisions over the submission of nomination papers for the 13th national parliamentary election, scheduled for February 12.

Of the 70 appeals heard today, 15 were rejected, while three were kept pending, EC Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed told reporters this evening after the hearings.

Candidates and their representatives appeared before the EC to challenge decisions on the acceptance or rejection of nomination papers at the hearings, held from 10:00am to 5:00pm at the EC auditorium in Agargaon, Dhaka.

Akhtar Ahmed said, “We received appeals up to yesterday. Today, we conducted hearings on the first batch.”

“One of the pending appeals will be heard tomorrow, while the remaining two will be heard on January 16,” he added.

According to the EC, a total of 645 appeals were filed between January 5 and January 9 against Returning Officers’ decisions made during the scrutiny of nomination papers for the upcoming election.

Hearings on these appeals began today and will continue until January 18. The EC plans to hear appeals of around 280 candidates each day until next Tuesday, with proceedings running from 10:00am to 5:00pm daily.