The High Court has rejected the writ petition filed by BNP-backed candidate for Dhaka north mayoral race Abdul Awal Mintoo challenging the cancellation of his nomination.
The HC bench of Justice Sarah Mahbub and Kazi Md Ejarul Haque passed the order after hearing on the writ petition on Monday afternoon.
Mintoo’s counsel AKM Ahsanur Rahman filed the petition on Sunday.
Mintoo’s candidacy was cancelled by the Election Commission on April 1, the first day of scrutiny. His appeal against that decision was rejected on Saturday.
DNCC Returning Officer Shah Alam told the Dhaka Tribune: “Mintoo’s nomination has been cancelled as the person who nominated him and the one who seconded his nomination are not the voters of the area from where the BNP leader is contesting.”
The certified copy of Mintoo’s nomination cancellation reads Abdur Razzaque, who supported Mintoo’s nomination, was a voter of Uttara 13 under Harirampur union, which is outside the DNCC area.
According to the City Corporation Election Rules, the returning officer may disqualify a mayoral aspirant for a number of reasons. Section 14 of the rules, that deals with the issue, spells out the reasons.
A candidature may be cancelled if the returning officer deems that person ineligible, or if the aspirant has not duly submitted the affidavit or if there has been a violation in the process of nominating the candidate. Two of those points explicitly deal with the eligibility of the ‘proposer’ and the ‘seconder.’
The rules say that the returning officer may cancel a candidature if the ‘proposer’ and ‘seconder’ are not eligible (Section 14.3.b) or, if their signatures are not deemed valid (Section 14.3.d).
The rules state that any voter may propose and another voter may second the proposal for candidacy.
Source: Dhaka Tribune
