Highlights:
- 731 aspirants’ candidatures declared invalid
- 27 percent of nominations have been cancelled
As the electoral wheel rolls in full gear, returning officers across the country have so far declared 731 aspirants’ candidatures invalid.
The nominations were scrapped on various grounds, including defaulted loans and taxes, and failure to submit the signatures of one percent of voters by independent aspirants. Of the 731 cancelled nominations, at least 182 were filed by independents and several by Jatiya Party nominees, according to EC data. The ratio of cancelling nomination paper has slightly increased this time compared to the last national election in 2018, when 786 out of 3,065 nominations were scrapped.
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About 27 percent of nominations have been cancelled this time, compared to around 25.64 percent in 2018. Against these cancellations, aspirants can file appeals with election commission before December 9. As per the EC schedule, the submitted nomination papers were scrutinized from December 1 to 4.
The Election Commission (EC) will hold appeal hearing on candidate’s nomination paper submission from December 10 to December 15. Appeal against the order of the RO will be filed and disposed of in the Commission from December 6 to 15.
Aspirants Appealed to Get Back Candidatures
A total of 561 people have so far filed appeals in the Election Commission (EC) against the decision of the Returning Officers (ROs) in the selection of nomination papers for the upcoming 12th parliamentary election. According to the EC, A total of 42 appeals were lodged on the first day, 141 on second day, 155 on third day and 93 on fourth day, and on the last day on Saturday, 130 independent aspirants and different political party nominees lodged appeals to the EC against the decision of ROs.
Among the 130 aspirants who lodged appeals on Saturday, nine from Dhaka Region, 28 from Cumilla, 12 from Chattogram, three from Faridpur, four from Sylhet, 16 from Mymensingh, eight from Barishal, 16 from Khulna, 18 from Rajshahi and nine from Rangpur.
More on Appeals.
Among these, independent candidate AK Azad filed a petition to invalidate the candidacy of Shamim Haque, the Awami League’s nominee for Faridpur-3 (Sadar), asserting that Haque is a citizen of the Netherlands. Additionally, Nasirul Islam Khan of AL in Kishoreganj-3 has appealed for the cancellation of Jatiya Party’s Mujibul Haque Chunnu’s candidacy.
Nasirul Islam had previously appealed against the EC’s decision to reject his own nomination, stating, “Today, I filed an appeal seeking cancellation of Jatiya Party candidate Mujibul Haque Chunnu’s candidature due to loan default.” Petitions were also filed for Mymensingh-8, Comilla-3, Comilla-4, Patuakhali-1, and Cox’s Bazar-1 constituencies yesterday.
Independent candidate of Chattogram-10, Mohammad Manjur Alam, appealed against AL’s Md Mohiuddin Bachchu, citing the concealment of information related to a murder case by the Awami League candidate.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Nationalist Movement candidate Sukriti Kumar Mondal appealed on Thursday against Enamul Haque Babul, the AL candidate in Jessore-4 seat, accusing his rival of defaulting on a loan.
The constituency’s incumbent, Ranajit Kumar Roy, also filed an appeal against Babul on the previous day, accusing the AL candidate of being a defaulter. On Wednesday, the incumbent of Barishal-5 and State Minister for Water Resources Zahid Faruk appealed against the nomination of Serniabat Sadiq Abdullah, alleging the independent candidate withheld information in his affidavit.
In the appeal, Zahid Faruk stated that Serniabat Sadiq Abdullah has dual citizenship and failed to mention his property in the US and a plot in the capital in his affidavit. Additionally, incumbent Jatiya Party MP Fakhrul Imam appealed against independent candidate Hasan Mahmud from the Mymensingh-8 constituency. Fakhrul Imam will contest the polls from this constituency.
In Barishal-4, the nomination of the ruling Awami League candidate Shammi Ahmed, also the party’s international affairs secretary, was scrapped on the ground of dual citizenship.
Meanwhile, the candidature of incumbent AL lawmaker Pankaj Nath was declared valid. He will run as an independent. Apart from Shammi’s, nominations of nine more aspirants have been scrapped in Barishal.
On December 3, the candidatures of AL nominees Salah Uddin Ahmad for Cox’s Bazar-1 and Mamunur Rashid Kiron MP for Noakhali-3 were cancelled.
Besides, the nominations of Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh lawmaker Mahi B Chowdhury (Munshiganj-1), and AL MPs Bazlul Haque Harun (Jhalakathi-1) and Didarul Alam (Chattogram-4) were also scrapped.
In Dhaka, 76 MP hopefuls, including 38 independents, were disqualified from contesting the general election in 20 seats. Among them is Farhana Sayeed, wife of AL nominee Sayeed Khokon for Dhaka-6, who sought to run for the same seat as an independent.
At least 30 nominations, including those of 19 independents, were scrapped in 16 seats of Chattogram, said ROs Abul Bashar Md Fakhruzzaman and Tofael Islam.
In Patuakhali-1, RO Noor Qutubul Alam declared the candidature of JP co-chairman ABM Ruhul Amin Hawladar valid after he paid a tax of Tk 88.69 lakh. Earlier, his candidature was put on hold as he did not pay the tax.
As per the schedule, the deadline for candidacy withdrawal is December 17 (Sunday). On December 18, returning officers will give allocation of election symbols. Electoral campaign will be from December 18 to 8am on January 5, 2024.
The EC has appointed 66 returning officers and 592 assistant returning officers. Around 11.97 crore people are eligible for exercising their voting rights at 2.62 lakh polling booths of 42,000 polling centers in the 12th JS elections.
