AL set to bag 2 mayor posts uncontested

The first day's scrutiny of nomination papers appeared to be a blessing for the ruling Awami League as at least two of its mayor candidates were set to be elected unopposed in the December 30 municipality polls.

During the first day of the two-day scrutinising of nomination papers, candidacies of their lone rivals from the BNP in Chandpur's Chengarchar and Feni's Parshuram municipalities were declared illegal, reports correspondents.

If the appellate authorities, the deputy commissioners of the districts, uphold the decisions of the returning officers, the EC would have to declare the two AL mayor aspirants elected after the December-13 deadline for the candidacy withdrawal.

Five more BNP mayor candidates, including that of Mirkadim in Munshiganj and Chouddogram in Comilla, were disqualified on different grounds, including not paying holding taxes.

At least five Jatiya Party's mayor aspirants and a number of candidates of some small parties had also been disqualified on various grounds.

Candidatures of at least three independent candidates from Jamaat were cancelled in yesterday's scrutiny.

The candidates aggrieved by disqualifications would be able to challenge the decisions of the returning officers before the appellate authorities within three days. The appellate authorities would have to dispose of the appeals within three days after that.

However, both the BNP and the AL got benefits from the scrutiny yesterday as five dissident AL and seven rebel BNP candidates were disqualified, reports correspondents.

AL rebel mayor candidate in Gopalpur of Tangail died allegedly of the shock of his disqualification, reports our correspondent.

Enamul Haque, joint secretary of Gopalpur upazila unit of Jubo League, had submitted his nomination as an independent after failing to get the party ticket.

Shamsul Haque, upazila election officer in Gopalpur, said Enamul's nomination was cancelled due to various anomalies in a document he had submitted.

Enamul fell sick on his way home around 5:30pm, said Jahirul Islam, officer-in-charge of Gopalpur Police Station. He was taken to Gopalpur Upazila Health Complex where doctors declared him dead.

In Chengarchar, Awami League candidate Rafiqul Alam George is now the only mayor candidate as the nomination of his rival BNP candidate Sarwarul Abedin was binned, reports a correspondent.

Mafizul Islam, the returning officer and also the upazila nirbahi officer of Matlab North upazila, said Sarwar's candidacy was cancelled as he did not “properly” fill in the nomination form.

In Parshuram, BNP mayor candidate Mostafizur Rahman Masud was disqualified for faults in some documents he had submitted with his nomination paper. This paved the way for his rival ruling party contestant Nizam Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury to emerge as the lone candidate in the race.

In Mirkadim, Returning Officer Foysal Kadir declared that BNP mayor candidate Shamsur Rahman was disqualified for not paying Tk 3,457 in taxes.

Shamsur refuted the allegation and said he had become the victim of a conspiracy by AL mayor candidate Shahidul Islam Shahin and that he would appeal.

The BNP mayor candidate in Chouddogram municipality of Comilla, Golam Mohammad Robbani, was disqualified for failing to pay up his loans, sources in the returning officer's office said.

Jamaat-e-Islami man and independent mayor candidate Md Sahabuddin and Jatiya Party candidate Khorshed Alom were also disqualified on different grounds, reports a correspondent.

Moklesur Rahman, the mayor candidate of JP in Laksam, was disqualified for not signing his affidavit submitted to the EC. 

In Rajshahi, the nominations of three mayor candidates in Aarani municipality were cancelled. They were independent candidates Nazrul Islam, who is the incumbent mayor and a BNP rebel, Abdul Matin, an AL rebel, and Masud Parvez.

A total of 1,223 mayor aspirants have filed nomination papers across the country to contest in the December-30 municipal elections.

At least 2,668 reserved (women) councillors and 9,798 general councillors are also running.

At least 10 councillor in Porshuram and two councillors in Pabna were set to be elected unopposed as there were no rivals in their wards.

[Our district correspondents contributed to this report]