A total of 197 appeals have been so far filed with the Election Commission (EC), contesting the decisions made by Returning Officers (RO) regarding the acceptance and rejection of nomination papers for the 13th national election.
The appealing process started at 10am on Wednesday morning at the EC headquarters in Agargaon, Dhaka, where candidates are submitting their petitions at ten designated regional booths.
EC officials confirmed that by 12:15pm, the count reached 197, with the process having begun on Monday. The window for filing appeals remains open until 9 January.
Earlier, 122 appeals were submitted on Tuesday, following 41 appeals filed on the first day against the rejection of nomination papers, alongside one appeal contesting an acceptance.
Regionally, Dhaka leads with 42 appeals, followed by Cumilla and Mymensingh with 24 each, Khulna with 23, Rajshahi with 22, Rangpur with 16, Faridpur with 14, Chattogram with 12, and Barishal with nine.
Notably, one appeal from the Cumilla region challenges the acceptance of a nomination.
This follows the scrutiny phase on 4 January, where ROs validated 1,842 nomination papers and disqualified 723 aspirants out of 2,568 submissions in 300 constituencies nationwide.
According to an EC notice outlining the procedure for appeals, that any candidate, bank, financial institution, or government service-providing entity dissatisfied with a RO’s ruling is permitted to lodge an appeal.
This must be done by submitting a memorandum to the EC within a five-day window following the conclusion of the scrutiny process. The appeal must be accompanied by the original set of documents along with six photocopies.
EC further clarified that the submission of these appeals will be accepted until 5pm on 9 January.
The hearings are scheduled between 10 and 18 January at the Election Building auditorium, presided over by the full commission.
A detailed daily schedule has been issued for hearings grouped by appeal numbers. The hearings to commence at 10am on 10 January, starting with appeals numbered 1 to 70.
The proceedings will continue on subsequent days according to the following sequence: appeals 70 to 140 on 11 January, 141 to 210 on 12 January, 211 to 280 on 13 January, 281 to 350 on 14 January, 351 to 420 on 15 January, 421 to 490 on 16 January, and 491 to 560 on 17 January. Any remaining appeals will be heard on 18 January.
After the hearings, the appeal decisions will be made public through multiple channels. The results will be displayed on monitors, and PDF copies of the formal verdicts will be electronically dispatched to the email addresses of the concerned ROs and other involved parties.
Simultaneously, the decisions will be published on the official website of EC
Furthermore, physical copies of the appeal verdicts will be available for collection from designated officials at the Election Building’s reception desk, adhering to a fixed schedule.
As per the schedule, copies for hearings conducted on 10, 11, and 12 January will be distributed on 12J anuary. Similarly, verdicts from the 13, 14, and 15 January hearings will be provided on 15 January, and those from 16, 17, and 18 January will be available on 18 January.
