Hossen Sohel of DOT
The Election Commission has accepted the candidacy of BNP leaders M Morshed Khan and Abubakar Siddique, clearing their way for contesting in the upcoming 11th parliamentary election.
The commission also rejected the candidacy of BNP leader Mir Mohammad Helal Uddin.
M Morshed Khan will contest the polls from Chittagong 8 constituency, while Abubakar Siddique will contest from the Rajshahi 5 constituency. He has served as the foreign minister of Bangladesh from 2001 to 2006 under the BNP government.
The decisions came yesterday, as the commission resumed appeal hearing of remaining 233 petitions filed by the aspirants against the rejection of their nomination papers.
Helal is an executive committee member of BNP, also a member of Dhaka Bar Association and an advocate of Bangladesh Supreme Court.
He is the son of BNP politician Mir Mohammad Nasiruddin, and has served as a member of parliament.
The hearings on appeal petitions will conclude on Saturday. The hearings for candidates with cases numbered from 161 to 310 took place on Friday, while the hearings on cases numbered from 311 to 543 were held yesterday.
The 11th general election is scheduled to be held on December 30. The last date for withdrawing candidacies is December 9.