Rafiur Rabbi's nomination cancelled

The nominations of two Narayanganj-5 by-election aspirants, including that of independent candidate Rafiur Rabbi, convener of Santrash Nirmul Toki Mancha, were cancelled yesterday.
The candidacies of six others were declared valid.
Rabbi's nomination was cancelled on grounds of loan default, while the nomination of Bangladesh Nationalist Front (BNF)-backed contender Abu Hamidur Reza Khan Bhashani was rejected for procedural flaws, said Returning Officer of the by-polls Mihir Sarwar Morshed.
Rabbi, father of Tanvir Muhammad Toki, who was killed by criminals in March last year, submitted his nomination papers to the returning officer to contest the polls, scheduled for June 26.  
Sign Knitwear Ltd, whose managing director is Rabbi, is a loan defaulter of over Tk 19 crore with the Narayanganj corporate branch of Sonali Bank, he said.
As per electoral law, an independent candidate must submit a list of signatures of one percent electors, who will support the aspirant, of the constituency concerned with the nomination papers.    
According to the law, Morshed randomly selected 10 signatories from the list submitted by Rabbi and checked whether their names and addresses were correct and whether their signatures were false or correct.  
After examination, two forged signatures were found among the 10, said the returning officer, adding that it was the second reason for cancelling the nomination.  
The candidates whose nominations were rejected will get a chance to appeal to the Election Commission (EC) within the next three days, he mentioned.
However, Rabbi claimed the returning officer cancelled his nomination unlawfully because the debt of an institution does not go to an individual as per electoral law.
Talking to The Daily Star over the phone, he said, “The decision of rejecting my nomination by the returning officer has raised questions. Besides, different media were presenting the news of the cancellation of my candidature since yesterday morning when the scrutiny did not start. I guess information was leaked from the election office. It has really confused me.”
Talking to our Narayanganj correspondent at his residence, Rabbi also alleged that a vested quarter had influenced the election office to cancel his nomination. He will appeal to the EC against the decision.
The six other candidates are former convener of Narayanganj district unit Awami League and Nagorik Oikkyo adviser SM Akram, Jatiya Party-backed candidate Selim Osman, Narayanganj city unit AL president Anwar Hossain, Krishok Sramik Janata League Narayanganj district unit president Shafiqul Islam Delwar, its Gazipur district unit president Iqbal Siddique and independent candidate Mamun Sirajul Majid.
Of them, Akram, Selim and Anwar have sought support from Narayanganj City Corporation Mayor Selina Hayat Ivy in the election.
The Narayanganj-5 constituency fell vacant as its Jatiya Party lawmaker Nasim Osman died on April 30.