<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>The returning officers have accepted a total of 1985 nomination papers and rejected 731 others submitted by aspirants in the country’s 300 constituencies to run in the 12th parliamentary election scheduled to be held on January 07.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>“Out of 2,716 nomination papers submitted throughout the country, a total of 1,985 have been accepted and 731 others have been rejected,” Additional secretary of EC Secretariat Ashok Kumar Debnath told reporters on Monday evening.</div><div><br></div><div>The returning officers on Monday completed the scrutiny of nomination papers submitted in the 300 constituencies, starting from last Friday.</div><div><br></div><div>Deputy Secretary of EC Secretariat Mahbubar Rahman said the most of 731 nomination papers were rejected on three grounds -- mismatch in 1pc voters’ signatures submitted by independent aspirants, loans and utility bills defaults and dual citizenship.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Now the aggrieved aspirants can appeal before the Election Commission from Tuesday, challenging the decisions of the returning officers over rejection or acceptance of nomination papers.</div><div><br></div><div>The Election Commission has already installed 10 booths in Nirbachan Bhaban in the city to receive the appeals from the aspirants till December 09.</div><div><br></div><div>The appeals will be received from 10:30am to 4pm every day till December 09. The appeals will be disposed of from December 10 to December 15. The EC will hear and dispose of some 100 appeals a day.</div><div><br></div><div>The last date for withdrawal of candidature is December 17 and the returning officers will distribute electoral symbols among the contenders on December 18.</div><div><br></div><div>The candidates can go for electioneering from December 18 to January 5 (8am), 48 hours before the balloting, which will continue from 8am to 4pm without any recess on January 7. According to UNB reports&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>