731 nomination papers rejected 1985 accepted

The returning officers have accepted a total of 1985 nomination papers and rejected 731 others submitted by aspirants in the country's 300 constituencies to run in the 12th parliamentary election scheduled to be held on January 07.

"Out of 2,716 nomination papers submitted throughout the country, a total of 1,985 have been accepted and 731 others have been rejected," Additional secretary of EC Secretariat Ashok Kumar Debnath told reporters on Monday evening.

The returning officers on Monday completed the scrutiny of nomination papers submitted in the 300 constituencies, starting from last Friday.
Deputy Secretary of EC Secretariat Mahbubar Rahman said the most of 731 nomination papers were rejected on three grounds -- mismatch in 1pc voters' signatures submitted by independent aspirants, loans and utility bills defaults and dual citizenship. Now the aggrieved aspirants can appeal before the Election Commission from Tuesday, challenging the decisions of the returning officers over rejection or acceptance of nomination papers.

The Election Commission has already installed 10 booths in Nirbachan Bhaban in the city to receive the appeals from the aspirants till December 09.
The appeals will be received from 10:30am to 4pm every day till December 09. The appeals will be disposed of from December 10 to December 15. The EC will hear and dispose of some 100 appeals a day.

The last date for withdrawal of candidature is December 17 and the returning officers will distribute electoral symbols among the contenders on December 18.

The candidates can go for electioneering from December 18 to January 5 (8am), 48 hours before the balloting, which will continue from 8am to 4pm without any recess on January 7.

EC to receive appeals against ROs' decisions from today

Aspirants or banks or financial institutions will be able to lodge petitions with the Election Commission (EC) challenging returning officers' (ROs) decisions over rejection and acceptance of nomination papers from today as the scrutiny of the papers have been completed.

As the ROs yesterday completed the scrutiny of the nomination papers submitted by aspirants to contest in the upcoming 12th Jatiya Sangsad (JS) elections slated for January 7, the aggrieved individuals or institutions could file petitions with the EC between December 5 and 9.

The aggrieved individuals or institutions have to file the appeal to the EC with a main copy of the petition in a memorandum format and six photocopies of it from 10:30am to 4pm everyday, it said.

The EC has set up 10 booths at the Nirbachan Bhaban here for the country's 10 regions to receive the petitions, the release said, adding that the EC will dismiss 100 petitions as per the serial number everyday from December 10 to 15.

After the hearing of the appeals, the verdicts will be displayed on monitor and the PDF copies of the judgments will be sent to the e-mail accounts of the respective parties, including the ROs and these will be published on the EC website.

The copies of the verdicts will also be distributed by respective officials from the reception desk at the Nirbachan Bhaban.
According to EC officials, a total of 2,712 aspirants, including 1,965 from 29 registered political parties and 747 independents, have submitted nomination papers to contest in the upcoming general elections.

As per the election schedule, the EC will settle petitions lodged challenging ROs' decisions from December 10 to 15 and the last date for withdrawing candidature is December 17.

The ROs will distribute election symbols among candidates on December 18.