51 aspirants regain candidacy on second day of appeal
Fifty-one candidates for the upcoming 12th Jatiya Sangsad (JS) elections, whose nomination papers were initially cancelled by respective Returning Officers (RO) of the constituencies, got their candidacy back as the Election Commission (EC) held the second day of the appeal hearing today.
The hearing was held at the Nirbachan Bhaban in the capital's Agargaon area from 10am to 4pm on Monday (11 December).
The commission reviewed 99 appeals today. Of them, 51 appeals were accepted, 41 were rejected and 7 are pending.
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A total of 107 candidates have so far got back candidacy on appeal.
According to the EC, the independent candidate of Chattogram-10 Constituency Farid Mahmud, Trinamool BNP candidate Md Nazmul Islam of Dhaka-14 Constituency, the independent candidate from Mymensingh-11 Constituency Mohammad Abdul Waheed, the independent candidate of Kushtia-4 Constituency Abdur Rauf, Munshiganj-2 Constituency Sangskritik Mukti Jote candidate Nur Alam Siddique, Rangpur-2 Constituency independent candidate Mst Sumna Akhtar, Nurul Amin of Sangskritik Mukti Jote candidate for Dhaka-5 Constituency, Hazra Sahidul Islam of Jatiya Party in Bagerhat-2 Constituency, independent candidate Mst Machuma Akhtar of Gaibandha-2 Constituency got their candidature reinstated.
Besides, independent candidate of Cumilla-2 Constituency Md Abdul Majid, Dhaka-19 Constituency BSP's Md Julhas, Dhaka-12 Constituency BNF's Md Atiqur Rahman Nazim, Trinamool BNP's Rajbari-2 Constituency candidate SM Fazlul Haque, Noakhali-1 Constituency independent Candidate Khandkar Amin, Trinamool BNP candidate Maryam Sultana in Bagerhat-2, Tariq Mahdi of Bangladesh Nationalist Front in Jamalpur-4 seat, Farhana Saeed independent candidate in Dhaka-6 seat, SM Ajmal independent candidate in Bagerhat-2 seat and Md Jamil Hossain. the independent candidate in the Bagerhat-4 seat also got their candidature reinstated.
Aspiring candidates must participate in these hearings along with their legal representatives and the essential documentation for their defence.
If dissatisfied with the decision, they will have the option to seek reconsideration through the High Court.
During the first day of EC's hearing on Sunday (10 December), 94 appeals were heard. A total of 56 candidates, whose nomination papers were initially cancelled, got their candidacy back through the appeal hearing.
Among those who regained their candidature yesterday included Mahi B Chowdhury, Hero Alom, Doly Shaontoni, and Nasirul Islam Khan.
The nomination of Mahi B Chowdhury, a candidate of Bikalpadhara Bangladesh for the Munshiganj-1 constituency, was cancelled on a charge of defaulting loans.
Candidacy Singer Doly Shaontoni, a candidate of the Bangladesh Nationalist Movement for the Pabna-2 constituency, was cancelled on a charge of defaulting on credit card debt.
YouTuber Ashraful Hossain Alom, widely known as Hero Alom aspires to run for the Bogura-4 constituency, but his candidacy was cancelled on a charge of wrongly filing the nomination paper.
Apart from this, the nomination of Awami League-nominated candidate for Kishoreganj-3 Nasirul Islam Khan was cancelled on a charge of concealment of lawsuit information.
The 12th JS elections will be held on 7 January as per the schedule announced by CEC Kazi Habibul Awal on 15 November.
A total of 2,716 nomination papers have been submitted against 300 parliamentary seats.
During scrutiny, 731 nomination papers were rejected. A total of 558 appeals have been made to the EC against the decisions of the ROs.
Appeals for reinstating candidacy for the upcoming 12th national election began on 5 December and were accepted until 9 December. The appeal process started on 10 December and will continue till 15 December.
