A total of 197 appeals have been filed with the Election Commission (EC) so far against the returning officers' decisions on acceptance and rejection of nomination papers for the upcoming 13th Jatiya Sangsad election, said official today.

On the third day today, the filing of appeals began at 10 am at the EC building in the capital's Agargaon, where candidates started submitting appeals at 10 regional booths set up at the appeal filing centre.

EC officials said that by 12:15pm today, a total of 197 appeals had been filed over the three days, as the process started on Monday last and will continue till January 9.

Earlier, on Tuesday, 122 appeals were filed with the EC on the second day against the returning officers' decisions on acceptance and rejection of nomination papers. On the first day, 41 appeals were filed against rejection of nomination papers and one appeal was filed against acceptance of a nomination paper.

Of the total 197 appeals filed so far, 23 came from the Khulna region, 22 from Rajshahi, 16 from Rangpur, 12 from Chattogram, 24 from Cumilla, 42 from Dhaka, 24 from Mymensingh, nine from Barishal and 14 from the districts under the Faridpur region. 

Of these, one appeal from the Cumilla region was filed against acceptance of a nomination paper.

On the final day of scrutiny on January 4, returning officers or assistant returning officers declared 1,842 nomination papers valid and cancelled the candidacy of 723 aspirants out of a total of 2,568 nomination papers submitted in 300 constituencies across the country.

In a notice regarding the filing, hearing and disposal of appeals against acceptance and rejection of nomination papers, the EC said that any candidate, bank, financial institution or government service-providing institution aggrieved by the returning officer's order may file an appeal with the EC in the form of a memorandum within five days of the completion of scrutiny, along with one set of original appeal documents and six photocopies.

Aggrieved candidates, banks, financial institutions, government service-providing institutions or any person authorised in writing by a candidate may file appeals with the EC till, January 9, 5 pm.

Hearings on the appeals filed with the Election Commission are scheduled to be held between January 10 and January 18 at the auditorium of the Election Building (Basement-2), where the full commission will conduct the hearings.

The hearing of appeals numbered 1 to 70 will begin at 10am on January 10, followed by appeals numbered 70 to 140 on January 11, 141 to 210 on January 12, 211 to 280 on January 13, 281 to 350 on January 14, 351 to 420 on January 15, 421 to 490 on January 16, 491 to 560 on January 17 and the remaining appeals on January 18.

After the hearings, the results of the appeals will be displayed on monitors, PDF copies of the verdicts and decisions will be sent to the email accounts of the returning officers and concerned parties, and the decisions will also be published on the Election Commission's website. Copies of the appeal verdicts will be distributed according to the schedule through designated officials from the reception desk of the Election Building.

Copies of verdicts for hearings held on January 10, 11 and 12 will be provided on January 12, those for January 13, 14 and 15 on January 15, and those for January 16, 17 and 18 on January 18.