With campaigning set to begin on January 22, the Election Commission yesterday reinstated the candidacies of 421 aspirants who had appealed the cancellation of their nominations.
Nearly two-thirds of the appellants were reinstated after the EC heard 645 appeals between January 10 and yesterday -- a higher proportion than in the previous two elections.
Speaking to reporters after finishing the hearings last night, Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin said, “We will need your [all stakeholders’] cooperation to ensure the voting can be conducted smoothly. This is not the end…. Many people will criticise us.”
Explaining that concessions had been made for independent candidates, he said, “You’ve seen how we relaxed the requirement of one percent of voter signatures -- because we want the election to be participatory. We want everyone to take part in a fair election.”
We granted exemptions to loan defaulters with a heavy heart -- only because the law permitted so.
Election Commissioner Abul Fazal Md Sanaullah
On the issue of many loan defaulters getting their candidacies back, Election Commissioner Abul Fazal Md Sanaullah said, “We granted exemptions to loan defaulters with a heavy heart -- only because the law permitted so.”
On the final day of hearings against the returning officers’ decisions yesterday, 63 appeals were heard. Of these, 23 appalents got their candidacies back, 35 were rejected, one was left pending, three appeals were withdrawn and one appellant was absent.
Yesterday, although BNP’s Aslam Chowdhury retained his candidacy in Chattogram-4, the nomination of another party aspirant, Sarwar Alamgir, was cancelled in Chattogram-2.
Aslam’s nomination paper had been declared valid by the RO, but an appeal was filed against him with the EC. During the hearing, the appeal was rejected, thereby upholding the RO’s decision.
In Chattogram-2, Sarwar’s nomination paper was also initially declared valid by the RO. However, Jamaat-e-Islami candidate Mohammad Nurul Amin from the same constituency appealed to the EC, seeking cancellation of Sarwar’s candidacy.
In Feni-3, BNP candidate Abdul Awal Mintoo regained his candidature after Jamaat candidate Mohammad Fakhruddin filed an appeal against the validation of his nomination.
In Tangail-4, Abdul Latif Siddique, a four-time lawmaker and a former Awami League leader, regained his candidature. His nomination was challenged by Jatiya Party leader Md Liakat Ali.
In Cumilla-10, BNP candidate Abdul Gafur Bhuiyan lost his candidature after his nomination was challenged by Bangladesh Shangskritik Muktijote candidate Kazi Nur E Alam Siddique.
The EC cancelled the candidacy of BNP aspirant for Brahmanbari-1 Syed AK Ekramuzzana after he was found to be a fugitive, following an appeal by a rival candidate.
Jamaat candidate from Cox’s Bazar-2 AHM Hamidur Rahman Azad regained his nomination after it was cancelled during scrutiny. The EC also cleared Tasnim Jara, an independent candidate for Dhaka-9.
Jara, who recently resigned from the National Citizen Party, was rejected by the RO due to a mismatch in the signatures from one percent of voters during scrutiny.
The EC also reinstated the candidacy of July uprising frontliner and NCP leader Hasnat Abdullah for Cumilla-4.
Hasnat objected to the candidacy of BNP nominee Manjurul Ahsan Munshi in the same constituency. Following Hasnat’s appeal, the EC cancelled Munshi’s candidacy, citing allegations that he was a loan defaulter and had concealed the information.
Munshi filed a counter-appeal against Hasnat’s nomination, claiming his affidavit lacked income and expenditure details. The EC, however, rejected Munshi’s appeal and upheld Hasnat’s candidacy.
The EC also upheld the candidacy of BNP-nominated Sabira Sultana in Jashore-2.
In Pirojpur-1, Jamaat candidate Masud Saidi filed an appeal against BNP candidate Alamgir Hossain. The EC rejected it.
The EC also rejected the appeal of BNP-nominated candidate TS Ayub from Jashore-4 over allegations of loan default. However, it approved the nomination of his son, Farhad Sajid, who is independently contesting from the same constituency.
In Dhaka-2, Jamaat candidate Md Abdul Haque also regained his candidacy after the EC accepted his appeal.
The commission declared the nomination of Chattogram-9 Jamaat candidate AKM Fazlul Haque invalid over dual citizenship issues, as he had US citizenship.
The EC did not reinstate the candidature of Jatiya Party faction leader Anisul Islam Mamhud.
The EC declared valid the nomination of AHM Kaium (Hasnat Kaium), an independent candidate from Kishorganj-5 (Nikli-Bajitpur), despite his application lacking at least one percent voters’ signatures.
Others who regained their candidacies include Gono Forum General Secretary Mizanur Rahman (Magura-1) and three Jamaat candidates: Md Abdul Momin (Chandpur-2), Md Mosleh Uddin Farid (Jashore-2), and Md Mujibur Rahman Azadi (Jamalpur-3).
Of the 2,568 nomination papers submitted, returning officers initially accepted 1,842 and rejected 723 after scrutiny.
According to the parliamentary election schedule, candidates have time to withdraw their nominations until tomorrow after the appeal hearings. After that, the final number of candidates contesting in the election will be determined.
Ahead of the 2024 polls, around half of 560 aspirants, who appealed against nomination cancellations by returning officers, were successful in regaining their candidacies. In contrast, only 39 percent of 543 appellants were successful in the 2018 polls.
