EC hearing on rejected candidates’ petitions starts

The Election Commission (EC) today started hearing on the appeal petitions filed by 11th parliamentary polls candidates whose candidatures were scraped earlier by returning officers during the initial scrutiny, reports BSS.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) KM Nurul Huda and other four Election Commissioners Mahbub Talukdar, Md Rafiqul Islam, Kabita Khanam and Brigadier General (retd) Shahadat Hossain Chowdhury began the hearing at 10 am at the Nirbachan Bhaban in Agargaon area.

EC Secretary Helaluddin Ahmed told newsmen 543 candidates challenged the cancellation of their nomination papers while 160 of them would be disposed of today maintaining the serials.

Of the rests, he said, decisions on 150 petitions would be given tomorrow and 233 would be sorted out on Saturday.

“The EC will hand over a copy of its decision on a petition instantly after its disposal,” Ahmed said.

During the scrutiny on Sunday, returning officers accepted a valid 2,279 nomination papers and turned down 786 ones.

The last date of withdrawal of candidature is December 9 while election symbols will be allocated on December 10.

The election will be held on December 30.