The Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday received 141 more appeals from candidates against cancellation of their nominations during primary scrutiny by the Returning Officials across the country.
With these 141, the number of appeals stood at 183 in the last two days as 42 more candidates appealed to the EC on Tuesday.
The appeal process began on Tuesday (December 5) at the EC Headquarters in the capital's Agargaon.
According to the EC, on Wednesday, 26 candidates in Rajshahi, 23 candidates in Dhaka, 19 in Mymensingh, 18 in Khulna, 16 in Cumilla, 14 in Rangpur, nine in Chattogram, six in Faridpur, six in Barishal and four in Sylhet filed appeals to the commission to get back their candidacies.
The petitioners include Ashraful Hossain Alom, widely known as Hero Alom, who is vying to contest from Bogura-4 constituency and singer Dolly Shaontoni, a nominated candidate of the Bangladesh Nationalist Movement for the Pabna-2 constituency.
"You know, each time my candidacy has been cancelled by the commission, I have managed to get it back by going to the High Court. I will do the same this time," Alom told reporters before entering the EC.
On Sunday, Alom's candidacy to contest in the 12th Jatiya Sangsad polls from the Bogura-4 constituency was cancelled for wrongly filing the nomination paper.
Earlier on Tuesday, the first day to appeal against the cancellation, 42 candidates filed their appeals before the EC.
Of them, 30 were independent candidates, most of whom were disqualified for failing to meet the requirement for signatures of 1% of voters.
Thirteen candidates from seven parties, including the Awami League, appealed against the cancellation of their candidacies. Three each are from the Jatiya Party, Bangladesh Nationalist Front, and Bangladesh Supreme Party. The remaining 10 candidates are from the Awami League, Trinamool BNP, Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Andolon, and Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh.
Bangladesh Nationalist Movement (BNM) candidate for Pabna-2 seat singer Dolly Sayantani said, "I had a credit card problem, which was not in my knowledge...I came to the EC after paying the credit card amount."
"But I hope to get my nomination papers validated," she added.
The nomination of former MP of BNP Major (retired) Akhtaruzzaman, who wanted to contest from Kishoreganj-2 was also cancelled.
"The returning officer cancelled my nomination for two reasons. I will file an appeal within 1/2 days," Akhtaruzzaman said.
Mymensingh region received the most appeals on the first day of the appeal process, while the Rajshahi region received none.
While briefing journalists in the afternoon, CEC Kazi Habibul Awal said after thorough scrutiny of nomination forms submitted by aspirants, the returning officers accepted many nominations and rejected many others. Aspirants who were rejected can appeal to get back their candidacy by December 9. Appeal for reviewing nominations will be disposed of between December 10-15.
The EC on Monday declared 1,985 candidates valid across the country. The nomination papers of 731 candidates were declared invalid.
The 12th JS Election is scheduled for January 7, 2024.
