Dhaka, Jan. 5 -- Independent candidates account for nearly half of all rejected nominations following the scrutiny of nomination papers for the 13th parliamentary election.

Almost 350 independent hopefuls were disqualified during the vetting process, representing about 73 percent of those who sought to contest the election without party backing. The figure makes up around 48 percent of the total 723 nominations rejected nationwide.

According to an analysis of nomination data from all 300 constituencies, most independent candidates were disqualified due to discrepancies in documents submitted to show the support of at least 1 percent of registered voters in their constituencies -- a legal requirement for independent contenders.

The Elec...