Nomination of 731 aspirants scrapped
Candidatures of at least 731 aspirants out of 2,716 have been cancelled by returning officers across the country.
Election Commission Additional Secretary Ashok Kumar Debnath disclosed the statistics yesterday evening.
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 candidatures has slightly increased this time compared to the last national election in 2018, when 786 out of 3,065 nominations were scrapped, sources in the EC said.
About 27 percent of nominations have been cancelled this time, compared to around 25.64 percent in 2018.
The highest 13 candidates each will run for Mymensingh-3 and Bogura-7 in the January 7 elections. The lowest two candidates would vie for Sherpur-2.
The EC, in a statement yesterday, said aspirants whose nominations were cancelled can file appeals with the commission by December 9.
The aspirants or their representatives will have to file the appeals at the Nirbachan Bhaban in the capital's Agargaon. The EC will dispose of the appeals from December 10 to 15.
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 Sunday, 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.
[Our district correspondents contributed to this report.]
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