The nomination papers of 17 mayoral candidates backed by the BNP and three endorsed by the Awami league have been declared void.
During the scrutiny of nomination papers yesterday and on Saturday, Returning Officers (ROs) also disqualified at least 33 rebel aspirants of the ruling party.
Among the BNP dissidents, 31 have been denied candidacy, The Daily Star learnt from its correspondents and other sources in some 120 municipalities.
Apart from these, 18 mayor hopefuls from the Jatiya Party, nine from the Jamaat-e-Islami and 33 others, including independent contenders, have failed to get the RO’s clearance to contest the December 30 elections.
Thursday was the deadline for filing the nominations of mayor and councillor candidates in the 235 municipalities. Mayor contenders will for the first time fight the battle of ballots with their party symbols. The councillor aspirants, however, will have to remain happy with non-party symbols.
Those denied candidature can challenge the RO’s decisions to the deputy commissioners of the districts concerned within three days. Then the DCs will have another three days to dispose of the appeals.
On Saturday, the Election Commission disqualified BNP candidates in Chandpur’s Chengarchar and Feni’s Parshuram municipalities from running the polls.
If the decisions are upheld after the appeals, the AL candidates there will be declared elected unopposed. There are no other mayor aspirants in the municipalities.
A number of AL rebels, meanwhile, alleged that the returning officers rejected their nomination papers on pressure from the local ruling party leaders.
Rejaul Islam Sangram, an AL-dissident mayor aspirant in Munshiganj municipality, said he was denied candidature over a case in which he was acquitted one and a half years ago.
“But the Returning Officer declared my nomination void, saying I was still accused in that case.”
“It is not my fault that the local police station didn’t send the information to the election authorities that I was acquitted in the case,” he told The Daily Star, adding that he would appeal against the RO’s decision.
Jalal Uddin Rumi, a leader of the pro-AL Jubo League in the same municipality, said the RO rejected his nomination papers on being influenced by the local AL leaders.
Mohammad Fazle Azim, the returning officer, however said Jalal had not submitted the list of supporters on his behalf, which a must for contesting the polls.
The municipalities where BNP mayoral contenders were denied candidacies include Sariakandi of Bogra, Pirojpur, Golapganj in Sylhet, Moulvibazar and Kamalganj of Moulvibazar, Gopalganj, and Dhonbari of Tangail.
The places where AL favourites failed to get the RO’s clearance are Shariatpur and Damudda of Shariatpur and Dhonbari of Tangail.
If the disqualifications are upheld in the appeal, both the AL and its political foe BNP will extend their support to the dissident candidates in these areas.
BNP insiders said they would wait till December 13, the deadline for withdrawing nominations, and then would decide whom they would endorse.
A total of 1,223 mayoral aspirants filed nomination papers for the municipal elections.
Another 9,798 nominations were submitted for the councillor posts and 2,668 for the reserved (women) councillor posts.
EC NOTICE TO THREE MPS
Three MPs have been served show-cause notices by the Election Commission for violation of the electoral code of conduct.
They are Safiqul Islam Shimul from Natore-2, MA Malek from Dhaka-20 and Shawkat Hasnur Rahman from Barguna-2, all ruling party lawmakers.
They have been asked to reply within three days, said EC Deputy Secretary Shamsul Alam.
The code of conduct bars MPs from joining any sort of election activities.
Ignoring the provision, Malek and Shimul on Thursday accompanied AL-nominated candidates when they submitted their nomination papers.
Shawkat, on the other hand, took an AL-backed mayor contender to Barguna from Dhaka in his car the same day, according to media reports.
Our correspondents in the districts concerned contributed to this report.
Source: The Daily Star
