City polls: Bangladesh Election Commission disqualifies BNP-backed mayor aspirant Mintoo

The BNP now faces trouble in Dhaka North City Corporation election as its lone mayoral aspirant Abdul Awal Mintoo has been disqualified from the battle of ballots due to a procedural flaw in filing his nomination.

The party, however, is in a comfortable situation in Dhaka South City Corporation. Two of its senior leaders -- Mirza Abbas and Abdus Salam -- were declared eligible in their mayoral bids. This keeps the BNP in the DSCC mayoral race against rival Awami League favourite Sayeed Khokon.

Mintoo, an adviser to BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, lost his eligibility for contesting the DNCC polls by bringing in an unqualified voter to support his candidacy.

According to the electoral law, a DNCC voter would have to propose his candidacy and another to second it.

However, the person named Abdur Razzaque, who supported Mintoo's nomination, was a voter of Uttara Sector 12 under Harirampur union parishad, not within the DNCC area.

"His nomination paper was cancelled as the supporter of his nomination is not a voter of Dhaka North City Corporation," Returning Officer (RO) Shah Alam told the press at his office in the capital.

The decision took the BNP camp by surprise. They found it hard to believe that there could be such a "silly mistake" in the nomination paper of a heavyweight candidate like Mintoo.

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia herself was "irritated and disappointed" over this, and had instructed Mintoo and her lawyers to work sincerely to make the appellate authority allow correcting the flaw, party insiders said.

This, however, comes as a boon for the ruling party-blessed mayor contender Annisul Huq, whose nomination was declared valid yesterday. With the lone heavyweight rival out of the race, he now has to battle it out against 18 others, all of whom are relatively low profile.

Soon after the RO's announcement, a BNP delegation met Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad and requested him to allow Mintoo to correct the procedural anomaly.

If Mintoo cannot return to the electoral race, the BNP does not have much alternative as no other BNP leader filed mayoral nomination in the DNCC like they did in Dhaka South.

In that case, the party may extend support to Mintoo's son Tabith Awal, whose DNCC mayoral nomination was accepted yesterday, said some BNP leaders.

Some others, however, are in favour of backing Mahi B Chowdhury, son of former president Badruddozza Chowdhury. Mahi has been declared eligible for the mayor polls.

The BNP policymakers are expected to sit with Khaleda to finalise the issue, party insiders said.

The nomination papers of former AL lawmaker Sarah Begum Kabori and Bobby Hajjaj also were approved.

FATE OF ABBAS STILL UNCERTAIN?

Even though Mirza Abbas' mayoral nomination in Dhaka South was accepted yesterday, some BNP leaders cast doubt over the validity of his nomination paper as the BNP standing committee member has been declared fugitive by a court in a corruption case.

According to the electoral law, a fugitive cannot contest the city polls.

Interestingly, the police did not bring it to the retuning officer's notice during the scrutiny yesterday. The cops only mentioned the pending cases against Abbas.

"I gave my decision on the basis of the police report," RO Mihir Sarwar Morshed of the DSCC told reporters on accepting Abbas' nomination.

But the BNP leader may face fresh trouble if any rival candidate appeals against the approval.

The RO also accepted the nomination of mayor aspirant Asaduzzaman Ripon, international affairs secretary of the BNP.

However, the nomination paper of former BNP lawmaker Nasir Uddin Ahmed Pintu, who was convicted in the BDR carnage case and is now behind bars, was rejected.

Though he has appealed against his conviction with the High Court, the court didn't stay the conviction. And the election law doesn't permit a convict to contest the city polls.

JP MEN OKAYED

Nomination papers of the main opposition Jatiya Party-backed mayoral aspirants -- Bahauddin Ahmed in the DNCC and Saifuddin Ahmed in the DSCC -- were declared valid yesterday.

CANDIDACIES IN CCC POLLS

In Chittagong City Corporation, both AL-backed mayoral aspirant AJM Nasir Uddin and his main contender BNP-blessed M Manjur Alam were given the green light, reports our Chittagong office.

JP-endorsed mayoral aspirant Solaiman Alam Seth's nomination was accepted as well.

Mayor hopeful Mohammad Forkan Chowdhury was disqualified as he had not provided the copy of his income tax return with his nomination papers, said RO Md Abdul Baten of the CCC.

The rejected aspirants can appeal to the divisional commissioner against the cancellation within three days of the cancellation.

The nomination papers of the councillor aspirants in the three city corporations that will go to polls on April 28 will be scrutinised today.

BNP FOR ARMY DEPLOYMENT

A seven-member delegation led by BNP Standing Committee Member ASM Hannan Shah met CEC Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad yesterday and placed a set of demands before him.

These include army deployment during the polls and the guarantee for the BNP-endorsed candidates, who are either behind bars in "false cases" or on the run fearing arrest, to carry out campaigns in a hassle-free environment.

On the demand of army deployment, the CEC told journalists that they would discuss the issue at a meeting with the law enforcement and the intelligence agencies on April 19.