43 appeal against nomination cancellation on first day

Forty-three candidates filed appeals against cancellation of their nominations yesterday, the first day of the electoral process.

Thirty of these appellants were independent candidates, most of whom were disqualified for failing to meet the requirement for signatures of 1% of voters.

The appeal process for regaining candidacy to participate in the upcoming 12th National Elections began yesterday at the Election Commission building in the capital's Agargaon area.

Thirteen candidates from seven parties, including the Awami League, appealed against the cancellation of their candidacies. Three each are from the Jatiya Party, Bangladesh Nationalist Front, and Bangladesh Supreme Party. The remaining 10 candidates are from the Awami League, Trinamool BNP, Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Andolon, and Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh.

"I will get my candidature back," said Awami League nominated candidate Nasirul Islam Khan in the Kishoreganj-3 constituency. He complained that his nomination cancellation was part of a conspiracy. But he was unwilling to reveal the name behind the conspiracy.

"Let Jatiya Party's Chunnu come to the field, we vote. Let's see who gets how many votes. This time the election will be full of competition. If we compete under the alliance, who will cast votes?" he said.

Bangladesh Nationalist Movement (BNM) candidate for Pabna-2 seat singer Dolly Sayantani said, "I had a credit card problem, which was not in my knowledge...I came to the EC after paying the credit card amount."

"But I hope to get my nomination papers validated," she added.

The nomination of former MP of BNP Major (retired) Akhtaruzzaman, who wanted to contest from Kishoreganj-2 was also cancelled.

"The returning officer cancelled my nomination for two reasons. I will file an appeal within 2/1 days," Akhtaruzzaman said.

Mymensingh region received the most appeals on the first day of the appeal process, while the Rajshahi region received none.

While briefing the journalists in the afternoon, CEC Kazi Habibul Awal said after thorough scrutinisations of nomination forms submitted by aspirants, the returning officers accepted many nominations and rejected many. Aspirants who were rejected can appeal to get back their candidacy.

Appeals can be filed by 9 December. Appeal for reviewing nominations will be disposed of between 10-15 December.

So far 75 candidates show-caused for electoral code violation

No candidate is paying heed to the Election Commission's "stern" warning. Since the formation of the Judicial Election Inquiry Committee on 8 November, 75 candidates have been show-caused over various charges till Tuesday.

A senior official of the Election Commission said "The violation of the code of conduct by the candidates cannot be prevented. We issue show-cause notices to one candidate after another, the list gets longer as time goes on."

The Election Commission on Monday declared 1,985 candidates valid across the country. The nomination papers of 731 candidates were declared invalid.

Jhalakhathi-1 candidate misbehaves with journos at EC

Barrister M Shahjahan Omar Bir Uttam, the expelled BNP MP who got Awami League candidacy for the Jhalakathi-1 constituency, came to the EC on Tuesday and met the CEC, where he engaged in an argument with the journalists and misbehaved.

The Election Investigation Committee on Monday censured him for violating the code of conduct. It is known that he came to the EC to meet Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal in advance regarding this matter.

He came to the election commission building in the afternoon, then the journalists approached him to talk with them. When some journalists wanted to take photos, he lost control of his anger. He got into an argument with reporters for taking photos and queries. Even went to paw at journalists' cameras.

After the meeting with the CEC, he faced the journalists again, and when asked some questions about the meeting, he refused to talk to them.

"Do you know the law? Who said I broke the law?", he told reporters angrily when asked whether he broke the law.