London councillor tried to run for office in Bangladesh, says local residents are top priority

A local political dispute in east London has drawn wider interest as Tower Hamlets councillor Ohid Ahmed defended his attempt to seek a parliamentary nomination in Bangladesh while continuing to serve in the United Kingdom.

Ahmed, an Independent councillor for the Lansbury ward and a former member of the borough's ruling Aspire party, had hoped to become the Bangladesh Nationalist Party's (BNP) candidate for the Sylhet-6 constituency in the general election scheduled for February. After failing to secure the nomination, he confirmed he will not stand in the Bangladesh polls and said he had long planned not to run again in Tower Hamlets, says The Standard UK.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), Ahmed said "residents in his council ward are his first priority". He added: "I expressed my interest – long ago I declared that I wasn't going to stand in the council election. So I was trying to go back home where I was born and raised to use my expertise and experience."

Ahmed rejected suggestions that his overseas political ambitions had distracted from his duties in London. "I did not miss any of my duties. I did not miss my surgeries. I did not miss anything," he told the LDRS. "I take my job seriously. I never, ever do anything to deprive my residents. They are the first priority."

The issue has gained attention beyond the UK following criticism of another Tower Hamlets councillor, Sabina Khan, who travelled to Bangladesh to campaign for a BNP candidacy while representing the Mile End ward. Khan, who was elected as a Labour councillor in 2022 before joining Aspire, has missed more than half of the council meetings she was due to attend this year. She has since confirmed she will resign and will not contest local elections in the UK next May.

Britain's Communities Secretary Steve Reed wrote to Tower Hamlets Council, saying he was "appalled" that serving London councillors were trying to become MPs in another country - a remark that further amplified international scrutiny of cross-border political activity.