Staff Reporter :
The Election Commission on Saturday rejected the nomination paper of the main opposition in the Parliament Jatiya Party’s mayor candidate Shafin Ahmed and accepted nomination papers of five, including ruling Awami League candidate Atiqul Islam, for the Dhaka North City Corporation by-polls.
The by-election to the vacant DNCC mayor post will be held on February 28.
The four other valid candidates are National People’s Party’s (PPP’s) Anisur Rahman Dewan, Nationalist Democratic Movement’s (NDM’s) Bobby Hazzaz, Progressive Democratic Party’s (PDP’s) Shahin Khan and indipendent contestant Abdur Rahim.
The DNCC mayor post fell vacant with the death of Annisul Huq on November 30, 2017.
At the time of the scrutiny, DNCC by-polls Returning Officer Md Abul Kashem cancelled Shafin’s nomination paper for loan default.
Jatiya Party on Wednesday picked popular singer Shafin Ahmed to contest the by-election for the DNCC mayor post with its ticket.
Besides, by-polls to 36 councillor posts-18 in DNCC and 18 in Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) will be held the same day.
The announcement came following the High Court’s order that cleared the way to hold the by-election to the DNCC mayor post and the councillor posts in the 36 new wards of DNCC and DSCC.
In January 2018, the Election Commission announced a schedule for by-election to the DNCC mayor post as well as 36 general councillor posts and 12 reserved councillor posts for the 36 new wards being added to the capital’s two municipalities-equally divided between the north and the south.
The size of the DNCC electorate is just over 2.9 million, spread across its 54 wards.
