The Election Commission (EC) yesterday rejected the nominations of two of the candidates for election to the 45 reserved seats for women in parliament, finding one as telephone bill defaulter and fault in the proposer's signature for the other.
After scrutiny of the nomination papers at the EC secretariat in the afternoon, EC Deputy Secretary Jasmine Tuli, also returning officer for the polls, informed reporters that the commission received a total of 46 nominations against the 45 reserved seats.
The ruling Awami League (AL) nominated 36 candidates while BNP and Jatiya Party five each.
Tuli said among the 36 AL nominees, the nomination of Saleha Mosharraf was rejected as the EC found her “telephone bill defaulter.”
Besides, Jatiya Party candidate Marina Rahman's nomination was declared invalid as the commission “did not find her proposer's signature authentic,” she also said.
The EC declared valid the nominations of all of the five BNP-nominated candidates.
After the two rejections, the number of valid candidates stood at 44, one short of the 45 seats reserved for the women members of parliament.
The returning officer said the two rejected candidates could file appeal to the EC by today.