A total of 645 appeals have been submitted to the Election Commission (EC) challenging the decisions made by returning officers during the scrutiny of nomination papers for the 13th National Parliamentary Election. The EC will begin hearing the appeals on Saturday at 10:00 am.

Earlier, nomination papers of 723 candidates were rejected during the scrutiny process across the country. Friday was the final day for filing appeals against the returning officers’ decisions. According to the EC, 176 appeals were filed on Friday alone, bringing the total number of appeals submitted over five days to 645.

Most of the appeals seek restoration of candidacy following the rejection of nomination papers. There are also several appeals challenging the acceptance of nomination papers. Until Thursday, 11 appeals had been filed against the acceptance of nominations. However, the EC did not provide a breakdown on Friday regarding how many appeals were filed against rejections and how many were against acceptances on the final day.

In a press release issued on Friday, the Election Commission stated that the appeal hearings will begin on Saturday, January 10, and will continue until January 18. On the first day, appeals numbered 1 to 70 will be heard. Hearings for appeals numbered 71 to 140 will take place on Sunday (January 11), followed by appeals 141 to 210 on Monday (January 12), and appeals 211 to 280 on Tuesday (January 13).

The hearings will be held at the auditorium of the Election Building in Agargaon, Dhaka, from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm each day. The EC said that the schedule for the remaining appeal hearings will be announced later.