82 loan defaulters identified in 13th parliamentary polls; nominations cancelled
Thirty-one other candidates are currently not listed as defaulters due to court stay orders, while the remaining 2,461 candidates were found to be free of loan defaults by the central bank.
Eighty-two candidates who submitted nomination papers for the 13th National Parliamentary Election have been identified as loan defaulters, leading to the cancellation of their nominations following scrutiny by the returning officials.
Bangladesh Bank officials said 31 other candidates are currently not listed as defaulters due to court stay orders, while the remaining 2,461 candidates were found to be free of loan defaults.
Election Commission sources said a total of 2,574 candidates from various political parties and independents filed nomination papers for the 300 parliamentary seats.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
The EC yesterday declared 1,842 nomination papers valid for the election across the constituencies while rejecting 723, disqualifying about 28% of aspiring candidates.
At the commission's request, Bangladesh Bank's Credit Information Bureau (CIB) verified the loan status of all candidates and sent the reports to the respective returning officers before the scrutiny deadline yesterday (4 January).
Based on the CIB findings, returning officers cancelled the nominations of candidates found to be loan defaulters, in line with the Representation of the People Order (RPO), which bars loan defaulters from contesting parliamentary elections.
Among the notable cancellations is the nomination of Mujibul Haque Chunnu, a leader of the Anisul Islam Mahmud–led faction of the Jatiya Party and a former MP, who was set to contest from the Kishoreganj-3 (Karimganj–Tarail) constituency.
Nominations were also cancelled for Mujibur Rahman Shamim of Islami Andolan Bangladesh from Bagerhat-1, Golam Sarwar of the Jatiya Party, Md Hasan Imam Litu of the Liberal Democratic Party from Bagerhat-2, and Abdul Haque, Jamaat-e-Islami's nominee for the Dhaka-2 seat, all on grounds of loan default.
Under the scrutiny process, returning officers cross-check candidates' declarations with CIB data supplied by the central bank. If a candidate is verified as a loan defaulter, the nomination is cancelled.
Election officials said candidates whose nominations have been cancelled may appeal through legal channels.
The appeal process will begin on Monday and continue until 9 January, with hearings scheduled to be completed between 10 January and 18 January.
A senior Bangladesh Bank official said many aspiring candidates had previously been loan defaulters. Some were able to regularise their loans through agreements with banks, while others failed to do so, particularly in cases involving fraudulent loans that require central bank approval.
According to the amended RPO, the Election Commission may also cancel the parliamentary seat of an elected member if they are later found to be a loan defaulter or to have provided false information.
In this connection, the Financial Institutions Division of the Ministry of Finance issued a circular on 29 December to the managing directors of all banks, stating that candidates who are loan defaulters, including directors of banks or financial institutions, would be disqualified from becoming members of parliament.
The circular also instructed banks to provide loan default information to returning officers by the day of nomination scrutiny. Bank officials were present during the scrutiny and will also attend appeal hearings.
Bangladesh Bank Executive Director and spokesperson Arif Hossain Khan said the central bank had informed the Election Commission of the current loan status of candidates
"The Commission will consider the matters of those who have become free from defaults through the court," he said.
