Dhaka, Jan 15 (V7N) — The sixth day of appeal hearings against the decisions of Returning Officers over the selection of nomination papers for the upcoming 13th National Parliament election is currently underway.

The hearing began at 10:00 am on Thursday (January 15) at the auditorium of the Election Building in Agargaon and is scheduled to continue until 5:00 pm, according to the Election Commission (EC).

The EC has been conducting the appeal hearings since January 10, following the submission of appeals from January 5 to January 9. During this five-day period, a total of 645 appeal applications were filed challenging Returning Officers’ decisions on nomination papers.

So far, 380 appeal applications have been disposed of over the last five days. Of these, 277 candidates have had their nominations restored, 81 appeals have been rejected, and 23 applications have been kept suspended.

On Wednesday, the fifth day of hearings, the EC disposed of 100 appeal cases. As a result, 74 candidates regained their candidacies, 18 appeals were rejected, and 8 applications were suspended.

The EC noted that in many cases it is considering minor and correctable errors while reviewing the validity of nomination papers.

Earlier, 70 appeals each were disposed of on the first and fourth days of the hearings.

The appeal hearings are part of the EC’s ongoing process to finalize the list of eligible candidates ahead of the 13th National Parliament election.

END/SMA/AJ