Some 141 more appeals were filed on Wednesday against the decisions of the returning officers taken during the verification of nomination papers for the 12th parliamentary elections.
The majority of these appeals seek to restore candidature, while some challenge the validity of candidates declared eligible. The deadline for filing the appeals ends on 9 December.
A total of three appeals were filed on Wednesday challenging the validity of the nomination papers of Serniabat Sadiq Abdullah, former mayor and an independent candidate from the Barishal-5 constituency, Awami League candidate Enamul Haque from the Jashore-4 constituency and Mahmud Hasan, an independent candidate from the Mymensingh- 8 constituency.
The incumbent MP of Barishal-5 constituency and state minister for water resources Zahid Faruk has appealed against the nomination paper submitted by independent candidate Serniabat Sadiq Abdullah.
KBS Ahmed Kabir on behalf of Zahid Faruk submitted the appeal to the Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday. KBS Ahmed Kabir is the vice-president of Barishal city Awami League and a supporter of Zahid Faruk. Allegations of hiding information have been brought against Sadiq Abdullah. He has dual citizenship. Apart from that, he didn’t mention about the house in the US owned by his wife. He also hid the information of a plot owned by him in Dhaka in the affidavit.
MP Ranjit Kumar Roy of Jashore-4 constituency has appealed against the validity of the nomination paper submitted by Enamul Haque, Awami League nominated candidate in that constituency. Incumbent MP Ranjit Kumar Roy wanted the party nomination this time too. However, he is contesting the polls as an independent candidate after failing to secure the party nomination. Enamul Haque has been accused of being a loan defaulter in the appeal.
Incumbent Jatiya Party MP Fakhrul Imam has appealed against the validity of the nomination paper submitted by independent candidate Hasan Mahmud from the Mymensingh-8 constituency. Fakhrul Imam will contest in the polls from this constituency.
Apart from these three, all the appeals were submitted to regain candidature.
Professor Anwar Hossain, an independent candidate from the Netrakona-5 constituency, lodged an appeal with the Election Commission (EC) to reinstate his candidature. The returning officer had previously annulled his nomination paper due to discrepancies in the signatures of 1 per cent of voters.
Speaking to the newspersons, Anwar Hossain said, “The provision to have the support of one per cent of the voters is a strategy to keep the independent candidates refraining from taking part in the polls. This should be changed.”
Incumbent MP of the Netrakona-4 constituency Shafi Ahmed too has appealed to regain his candidature. Besides, Asharaful Hossain alias Hero Alam has also applied to regain his candidature in the Bogura-4 constituency.
He told the journalists that there were some minor mistakes. He thinks he will get back his candidature after the appeal.
Voting for the 12th parliamentary elections will be held on 7 January 2024. The deadline for submitting nomination papers ended on 30 November. The scrutiny of the nomination papers ended on 4 December. The candidates started filing appeals against the decisions of the returning officers from 5 December. The EC will settle the appeals from between 10 December and 15 December.