Nominations of 16 Ctg candidates cancelled

Nomination papers of 16 candidates, including of Jamaat-e-Islami, Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) and Gono Odhikar Parishad, were rejected in Chattogram on the final day of scrutiny due to dual citizenship, loan default, and other irregularities.

With this, a total of 42 candidates have so far lost their candidacy in 16 Chattogram seats over four days of scrutiny, with 101 candidates still racing, officials said after the verification process at the offices of the Divisional Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner yesterday (4 January). 

However, much speculation triggered after the nomination of Jamaat-backed Chattogram-9 candidate AKM Fazlul Haque was rejected for dual citizenship.

Though he mentioned in his affidavit that he had renounced his US citizenship, he failed to submit any document against his claim, prompting the returning officer to scrap the nomination papers.  

In reaction, the contender announced to appeal to the Election Commission, asserting that he decided to revoke his foreign citizenship after the party finally nominated him on 24 December, but the process was delayed due to official holidays.

After applying for scrapping the citizenship on 28 December, the US embassy gave him an appointment for 5 January, he said, hoping that his candidacy would be returned through the appeal.

In the same seat, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal candidate Abdul Momen Chowdhury was disqualified for failing to submit income tax return documents. Nagorik Oikya candidate Nurul Absar Majumder faced the same fate due to loan default, unpaid city corporation bills and discrepancies in educational certificates.

Moreover, independent candidate Milon Kanti Sharma was also rejected as he failed to provide correct information of the required one percent voters.

In Chattogram-8, BNP and Jamaat candidates were validated, but CPB candidate Md Sehab Uddin and independent candidate Azad Chowdhury were declared void due to mismatch of the party signatures and failure to submit less than one percent signatures of voters respectively.

 In Chattogram-10, five candidates were disqualified as Khelafat Majlis candidate Md Ali Osman failed to sign the affidavit, while Bangladesh Labour Party candidate Md Osman Gani deposited his security money under the wrong code.

Jatiyo Party candidate Muhammad Emdad Hossain Chowdhury did not abide by the procedure in filling the nomination form and independent candidates Arman Ali and Omar Yusuf Khan failed to secure sufficient voter support.

In Chattogram-13, BNP leader Sarwar Nizam overcame the scrutiny but his fellow Ali Abbas was rejected for submitting the form as his own proposer. Gono Odhikar Parishad candidate Md Mujibur Rahman was halted for loan default.

In Chattogram-14, two independent candidates were rejected for failing to secure one percent voter support.

In Chattogram-16, Gono Odhikar Parishad candidate Md Ariful Haque was dropped for not signing his affidavit.

According to the election schedule, aggrieved candidates will be able tappeal against the cancellation until 11 January, with hearings scheduled from 12 to 18 January.

The final list of candidates will be published and symbols allotted on 21 January, following withdrawal of nominations on 20 January. Campaigning will formally begin on 22 January.