Bangladesh’s poll authorities scrap nominations of Kader Siddique, wife

Nominations of Abdul Kader Siddique, president of Krishak Sramik Janata League (KSJL), and his wife Nasrin Siddique for Tangail-4 (Kalihati) by-polls were scrapped yesterday on loan default charges.

Returning Officer (RO) Mohammad Alimuzzaman told The Daily Star that the decision was taken on getting a fax from the Credit Information Bureau of Bangladesh Bank on Monday.

According to the fax, Kader Siddique's firm Sonar Bangla Engineering defaulted on a Tk 10.88 crore loan from Agrani Bank. Nasrin Siddique is a director at the organisation, he said.  

Two more aspirants in the by-elections scheduled for November 10 were also declared disqualified by the RO.

Nomination of Jatiya Party (Ershad) candidate Syed Mostaq Hossain Ratan was cancelled as he did not submit documents showing that he was nominated by his party, said Alimuzzaman.

Independent candidate Abdul Alim's nomination was rejected as investigations found that some signatures of his supporters were forged in the nomination paper, he added.

The candidates can appeal to the Election Commission (EC) against the decision of the RO.

Ten candidates had submitted their nominations to vie for the JS seat that fell vacant after Kader Siddique's brother Awami League leader Latif Siddique resigned from parliament on September 1.

Latif Siddique had been expelled from the AL and the cabinet for his remarks on Hajj made in the US in September last year.

Following scrutiny yesterday, nominations of Awami League candidate Hasan Imam Khan (Sohel Hazari), central KSJL Joint Secretary Iqbal Siddique, Kalihati KSJL President Hasmat Ali, Jatiya Party (Manju) candidate Sadek Siddique, Bangladesh Nationalist Front's Ataur Rahman Khan and National People's Party's Imrul Kayes were accepted, EC sources said.

The last date for withdrawal of candidature is October 21. Some 2.77 lakh voters will exercise their franchise in the by-polls.

PROTEST IN TANGAIL

In protest at the decision to cancel the nominations of Kader Siddique and his wife, KSJL leaders and activists brought out a procession in Tangail town at noon. There, they declared a dawn-to-dusk hartal in the district for today.

The party men also blocked the busy Dhaka-Tangail-Bangabandhu Bridge highway at Elenga in Kalihati for half an hour around 1:30pm, creating long tailbacks on both sides of the highway.

Police later baton-charged and dispersed the protesters, said locals.

Later, Kader Siddique went to the spot and in a speech there alleged that even though his nomination paper was “correct”, the RO cancelled it on “government high-ups' directives”.      

He, however, said the two other candidates from his party will give a “befitting reply to all the injustices” on the voting day.

At a brief rally at the Shaheed Minar in Tangail town later at night, Kader Siddique called off the hartal declared earlier in the day, considering public sufferings.