Dhaka - Bangladesh's election commission began hearing appeals Saturday of rejected candidates for the December 29 parliamentary elections, officials said.

A total of 147 out of 557 rejected candidates appealed to the commission.

"We will try to dispose the appeals as quickly as possible," a commission staff member said, adding that the three-member panel headed by ATM Shamsul Huda would listen to appeals until Monday.

The commission cancelled nomination forms that failed to comply with the new electoral provisions, introduced by the military-backed government of Fakhruddin Ahmed to usher in a more transparent process.

The commission cancelled candidatures of 87 aspirants because they had defaulted on bank loans, 36 for defaulting on utility bills, 11 for tax evasion and 10 for convictions in corruption cases.

The disqualifications left the major parties - Awami League of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and Bangladesh Nationalist Party of Khaleda Zia - without candidates in
15 out of 300 parliamentary contests.

The BNP claimed that the filing rules were too strict.

"A number of otherwise competent candidates are being deprived of the chance to contest the polls as they're failing to meet the extremely stringent requirements laid down in the new Representation of the People Order," said Khandakar Delwar Hossain, secretary general of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. (dpa)