At least four aspirants have finally joined the election race after getting back their candidacy following the apex court’s verdict, while two others have withdrawn from the election and another declared disqualified for violation of electoral codes.
Those who have got back their candidacy in last moment are Enamul Haque Babul of Awami League for Jashore-4 seat, independent candidates Alam Ahmed for Gazipur-4, Sk Akram Hossain for Khulna-5 and Abdul Wahed for Mymensingh-11.
However, two aspirants— Shammi Ahmed of Awami League for Barishal-4 seat and Sadiq Abdullah, independent aspirant for Barishal-5—failed to join the poll race after losing the legal battle finally.
Two Jatiya Party candidates— Mahbubul Alam in Dinajpur-2 seat
and Advocate Sohrab Hossain in Chuadanga-1—have withdrawn from the electoral race, while the Election Commission (EC) cancelled candidature of independent candidate for Laxmipur-1 constituency Mohammad Habibur Rahman Paban on Tuesday, five days before the voting day.
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has rejected appeals of Shammi Ahmed and Sadiq Abdullah for getting back their candidacies.
A six-member bench of the Appellate Division led by Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan delivered the verdicts on Tuesday.
Chamber Justice M Enayetur Rahim had forwarded the petitions filed by the two aspirants challenging the EC’s decision to scrap their nominations due to ‘dual citizenship’.
Shammi Ahmed, Awami League international affairs secretary, secured the party’s nomination for Barishal-4 constituency where incumbent AL MP Pankaj Debnath is vying for the seat as an independent candidate.
The two rivals questioned each other’s eligibility to contest the election. Shammi accused Pankaj of ‘concealing information’ in his nomination papers, while Pankaj accused Shammi of hiding her Australian citizenship.
Pankaj survived the challenge against his candidacy, but Shammi was disqualified by the EC. Later, she went to the court to regain her candidacy.
Sadiq Abdullah failed to get the ruling party’s ticket for Barishal-5 constituency and opted to run as an independent candidate. State Minister for Water Resources Zahid Faruk later filed an application for cancelling Sadiq Abdullah’s nomination for holding US citizenship, which was upheld by the EC and the High Court.
Meanwhile, the same bench of the apex court declared candidatures of some aspirants valid. As a result, there is no legal bar for them to contesting the January 7 national polls.
Candidature of Enamul Haque Babul for Jashore-4 seat declared valid by the apex court after rejecting two separate writ petitions filed by two independent candidates.
Independent candidates Sukriti Kumar Mandal and Ranajit Kumar Roy submitted the petitions to the EC bringing allegations of loan default.
On December 13, the EC cancelled Enamul Haque Babul’s candidacy. Later, the candidate filed a petition to the HC which was rejected on December 18.
After a hearing, the Appellate Division noted that his candidacy was valid the following day. The EC submitted an appeal seeking withdrawal of the Appellate Division’s order. A hearing took place finally on the petition in the court, and Enamul Haque Babul won the legal battle.
Returning officer scrapped the nomination paper of Alam Ahmed of Gazipur-4, an advisor to central committee of Krishak League and also nephew of Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmad, citing him as a loan defaulter. Later, the candidate submitted an appeal to the EC but his nomination was declared invalid.
Alam Ahmed, a noted industrialist, moved to the High Court with a writ petition but the court rejected the appeal on December 18. Later, he moved to the Appellate Division challenging the HC order.
The chamber judge on December 21 directed the EC to allow Akram Hossain of Khulna-5 to contest the election and allocate an electoral symbol for him. The court had issued the order after hearing a petition filed by Akram Hossain challenging a High Court order that upheld the EC’s decision to scrap his nomination paper.
There is no legal bar for Akram Hossain to contesting the January 7 election, said his lawyer ABM Altaf Hossain.
On the other hand, Jatiya Party candidate for Dinajpur-2 constituency Mahbubul Alam has withdrawn his candidacy through an announcement at a press briefing at Birol upazila in Dinajpur on Tuesday.
Jatiya Party candidate for Chuadanga-1 constituency Advocate Sohrab Hossain has also withdrawn his candidacy, alleging lack of cooperation from his party. He is the president of Chuadanga district unit of Jatiya Party.
Meanwhile, the EC cancelled the candidature of independent candidate for Laxmipur-1 constituency Mohammad Habibur Rahman Paban for violating electoral code of conduct.
The EC has taken action against Paban, who is also Jubo League presidium member, for threatening Deputy Commissioner (DC) and Superintendent of Police (SP).
A letter signed by Abdus Salam, deputy secretary of the EC Secretariat, was sent to Paban in this regard on Tuesday. The EC took the decision after holding a hearing on Monday.
This is the first time a candidacy has been scrapped for violating electoral code. The candidature of any candidate was not cancelled for such reason in the 2014 and 2018 elections, EC sources said.
According to the letter, Paban on December 30 made indecent and objectionable remarks on Lakshmipur DC, returning officer of the constituency, through a WhatsApp call. He threatened to take various measures, including transferring the DC and the SP within three days.
The DC sent a letter to the EC seeking legal action against Paban. On the other hand, the election enquiry committee sent a report to the EC on December 31, recommending legal action against the candidate.
The EC later sent a letter to the accused to appear in person at the EC Secretariat on January 1. He appeared before EC Secretariat and explained the matter.
Besides, the EC also gave instruction to investigate the allegation through the Lakshmipur district election officer. Later, the election officer concerned investigated the matter and sent report stating that the incident was true.
The EC has already taken action against a good many candidates based on the inquiry reports submitted by the election inquiry committees.
The ‘Election Inquiry Committee’ formed by the EC in 300 constituencies to deal with pre-election irregularities has been continuing duties to force the candidates to follow the electoral code of conduct.
There is an election inquiry committee in each constituency consisting of judicial magistrates. These committees are issuing show-cause notice and sending recommendations to the EC for taking action. The election enquiry committees began their activities on November 18.
In the last one and half month, the inquiry committees issued about nearly 500 show-cause notices to candidates for violating the election code of conduct.
The EC Secretariat on Monday (January 1) reported that the election enquiry committees issued 480 show-cause notices to candidates till the date.
EC sources said that the maximum number of 119 show-cause notices were issued in Dhaka region, while 29 in Rangpur region, 68 in Cumilla region, 20 in Faridpur region, 38 in Chattogram region, 16 in Sylhet region, 27 in Barishal region, 40 in Khulna region, 74 in Rajshahi region and 49 in Mymensingh region.
After January 1, the ‘Election Inquiry Committee’ issued show-cause notices to several other candidates.