Election Commission Clears 1,842 Candidates, Rejects 28% of Nominations

The Election Commission (EC) has finalized its initial scrutiny of nomination papers for the upcoming 13th parliamentary elections, clearing 1,842 candidates while rejecting 723 others. The rejections account for approximately 28% of the total pool of applicants across 300 constituencies.

According to the EC Secretariat, the highest number of disqualifications occurred in Narail-1, where 10 out of 15 candidates were rejected. Conversely, Dhaka-5 holds the largest field of eligible contenders with 14 cleared nominees. Several districts, including Bogura-6 and Dhaka-2, currently have only two approved candidates.

Reasons for Rejection The majority of those disqualified were independent candidates. Election officials cited several recurring issues for the rejections: Discrepancies in voter support lists. Incomplete or false affidavits. Undisclosed legal cases or loan defaults. Dual citizenship or failure to observe the mandatory three-year "cooling off" period for retired government employees.

The Appeal Process Disqualified candidates have a five-day window—from January 5 to January 9—to file appeals at the EC headquarters in Agargaon. A specialized appeal center has been established to handle petitions by region.

Hearings will be conducted from January 10 to January 18 under the supervision of the Chief Election Commissioner. Commissioner Md. Anwarul Islam assured the public that any injustices would be rectified during the review, specifically noting that technical issues regarding voter support lists for independents would be carefully re-examined.

Next Steps The deadline for candidates to withdraw their nominations is January 20. The Election Commission will release the final candidate list and assign election symbols on January 21.

Notably, the EC confirmed that three nomination papers previously collected for the late BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia were not processed due to her death.