The Election Commission today declared valid nomination papers of 13 mayor aspirants, including four heavy weight candidates from both Awami League and BNP, for contesting the upcoming Dhaka North City Corporation and the Dhaka South City Corporation polls. Awami League candidates-- Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh and Atiqul Islam-- and BNP candidates-- Ishraq Hossain and Tabith Awal-- will contest with their respective party symbols for the DNCC and the DSCC mayor posts respectively.
The commission cancelled nomination paper of Jatiya Party mayor candidate Kamrul Islam for the DNCC polls. According to the EC, aspirants can appeal to the appellate authority against the Returning Officers’ decision by January 5. After scrutinising nomination papers for mayoral and councillor posts, Returning Officers (ROs) of two city corporations made the announcement on Thursday at their respective offices in the capital.
For the DNCC polls, the valid mayor candidates are--- AL’s Atiqul Islam, BNP’s Tabith Awal, Islami Andolon Bangladesh’s Sheikh Md Fazle Bari Masud, CPB’s Ahammad Sajedul Huq Rubel, NPP’s Anisur Rahman Dewan, and PDB’s Shahin Khan. The commission found nomination papers of 359 councillors for general wards and 87 for reserved women councillors valid for contesting the polls. However, the Election Commission has cancelled nomination paper of Jatiya Party mayor aspirant Kamrul Islam as he is not a registered voter under the DNCC.
Kamrul said he would appeal to the court about the matter. Former army officer Kamrul claimed that he is an eligible voter. EC officials said that Jatiya Party mayor aspirant could not contest the polls as per Local Government (City Corporation) Election Procedure as he is a voter in Cantonment Board area which area is not included under the DNCC. For the DSCC, the valid mayor candidates are--- AL Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh, BNP’s Ishraq Hossain, Jatiya Party’s Saifuddin Ahmed Milon, Islami Andolon Bangladesh’s Abdur Rahman, National People’s Party’s Bahrane Sultan, Gonofront’s Abdus Samad, and Bangladesh Congress’ Md Aktar Uzzaman.
According to the schedule, the last date of withdrawing nomination paper is December 9. The Election Commission will allocate election symbols among the candidates on January 10.
