The period for filing appeals against the Returning Officer’s decision on the scrutiny of nomination papers for the Thakurgaon-1 by-election began on Wednesday.

According to the Election Commission (EC) schedule, candidates can file appeals until October 4, with hearings and decisions on the appeals scheduled for October 6. The deadline for withdrawing candidature is October 7, while electoral symbols will be allocated to candidates on October 8.

Voting in the by-election will be held from 8am to 4pm on October 29.

Md Abdul Momin Sarkar, EC director (Public Relations) and information officer, said the appeal filing period against the Returning Officer’s decisions on the nomination papers had begun.

He said the appeals would be heard at the Election Commission.

The EC published the list of valid candidates on Tuesday.

The candidates declared valid are Obaidullah Masud, Mirza Faisal Amin, nominated by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Delwar Hossain of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, Md Abdul Alim Nizami of Bangladesh Khelafat Andolan, Md Khademul Islam of Islami Andolan Bangladesh, and Hussain Muhammad Omar Faruk of Bangladesh Congress.

EC Secretariat Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed said the constituency had 507,203 voters during the 13th national election held on February 12.

The number has since increased to 515,525 following the addition of new voters, he said.

The Thakurgaon-1 seat fell vacant after Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, who was elected from the constituency, assumed office as President of the country.