Eight days after the Election Commission (EC) declined to accept the nomination of Kader Siddique, president of Krishak Sramik Janata League (KSJL), for Tangail-4 by-polls, the High Court today asked the EC to allow him take part in the election.

The EC scrapped the nominations of Kader Siddiqui and his wife Nasrin Siddique on October 13 on loan default charges.

The HC bench of Justice Miftahuddin Choudhury and Justice Kazi Md Ejarul Haque Akondo today passed the order after hearing a petition filed by Kader Siddique challenging the legality of the EC's decision.

The commission scrapped the nominations a day after getting a fax from the Credit Information Bureau of Bangladesh Bank, Returning Officer (RO) Mohammad Alimuzzaman told The Daily Star soon after the candidatures were cancelled.

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.

The seat fell vacant after Kader Siddique's brother Awami League leader Latif Siddique resigned from parliament on September 1 over his remarks on Hajj made in the US last year.

Latif Siddique had also been expelled from the AL and the cabinet for the remarks.

Fresh out of successfully appealing to the Election Commission for candidacy, Barrister Aminul Haque has bagged BNP’s final nod to vie for Rajshahi-1.

Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, secretary general of the BNP, declared his candidacy at a press briefing in BNP’s Gulshan office this afternoon.

Initially, Barrister Aminul was turned down by the Election Commission on charges of concealing his conviction in a case in the affidavit submitted during application.

ABOUT THE CONSTITUENCY

Rajshahi-1 constituency is comprised with Godagari Upazila, and Tanore Upazila; having a voter base of 383,254. It is one of those areas dominant with women voters.

Having 145 voting centres within the constituency, there are 192,682 female voters and 190,572 male voters who will be exercising their franchise on election day.

Barrister Aminul’s arch contestant will be Awami League leader Omar Faruque Chowdhury.

There was one other BNP leader – Ava Haque – who was kept as a backup in case of Aminul’s failure to secure candidacy. But now, she will have to withdraw from the race.

M Abdul Mannan of Islami Andolon Bangladesh and M Rafiqul Islam of Workers Party of Bangladesh will also be contesting for this seat in the elections.

WHEN IS THE ELECTION?

The 11th general election will be held on December 30. It was deferred once by the Election Commission upon demands from the opposition political parties.

As per the polls schedule, the deadline for filing the nomination papers was November 28. Since then, the commission has been engaged in hearing appeals of rejected candidates.

After December 9, the last date for nomination withdrawal, the commission will allot polls symbols to contestant and open the field for campaigning.

Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader today warned his party colleagues that those have indulged in 'sick' politics and lost acceptability among people will not get nomination in the next parliamentary election.

"Don't indulge in infighting and sick politics. Our leader Sheikh Hasina is conducting surveys across the country in many ways. Only acceptable persons will get nomination based on opinions of the grassroots. Those who got their image dented and lost acceptability won't be considered for nomination," he said.

Quader, also the road transport and bridges minister, came up with the remarks while speaking at Jessore district unit of Bangladesh Chhatra League council on Jessore Eidgah ground.

He urged the BCL leaders to do politics of merits taking a strong stance against drug addiction, corruption, militancy, terrorism and extortion. 

The Election Commission (EC) will hold an electoral dialogue with journalists and media personalities on August 16 and 17 as a part of its election roadmap.

READ MORE: Civil Society Talks with EC: Call for army in polls, 'no vote' system

“Talks with journalists from online and television channels will be held on August 16 while with print journalists and media personalities on August 17,” EC Secretary Muhammad Helal Uddin Ahmed told The Daily Star today.

The dialogue is likely to begin at 11:00am at the EC Secretariat in Dhaka, he added.

The EC earlier had invited 59 civil society members to join the talks in which 35 participated while some others expressed their inability to attend for personal reasons.

In the talks, most civil society members spoke for restoring “no vote” system and ensuring a level-playing field for all political parties to hold the next election in a free, fair and participatory manner.

The BNP could not nominate anyone within the deadline yesterday for contesting the chairman posts in at least 25 Union Parishads in the second phase of elections for a lack of interest among its grassroots.  

Party men in some districts came up with poor responses to the polls since they fear harassment by activists of the ruling Awami League, said a party insider.

Six-hundred and fifty UPs will go to polls in the second phase on March 31.

Madaripur BNP district unit president Abu Bakar Siddique said the party could nominate candidates in only seven of 15 UPs under Sadar upazila for the second phase.

A majority of the possible candidates have left home for continuous threats from the ruling party candidates and their supporters, said Shirajul Islam Chowdhury, president of the Gopalganj district party unit. 

BNP grassroots sent the names of candidates in 12 of 21 UPs in Gopalganj Sadar to the party's central office. Of them, only six candidates submitted nomination papers yesterday.

In Kotalipara upazila, the party got the names of candidates in six UPs out of 14, Shirajul said.    

BNP Joint Secretary General Mohammad Shahjahan admitted that the party did not have candidates in some UPs for what he said was torture of AL men.

The opposition also does not have any chairman candidate in 70 of 738 UPs where elections will be held in the first phase on March 22.

Some 2,800 more UPs will go to polls in four other phases until June.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission decided to request the LGRD ministry to suspend Fulgazi upazila chairman of Feni for influencing UP polls.

It already suspended voting in six UPs of the upazila, scheduled for March 31.

Abdul Alim, chairman of Fulgazi upazila parishad, last week pressured returning officers of the six UPs to receive nomination papers of only those candidates selected by himself.

As Alim, general secretary of the upazila unit AL, threatened the officer not to receive nomination papers of other candidates, Feni polls officers sent a letter to the EC describing the situation, EC officials said. 

The EC found the accusation to be true upon an inquiry. 

"We will send a letter to the ministry either tonight (last night) or tomorrow morning (today) requesting for action against the upazila chairman," EC's Secretary Sirazul Islam told The Daily Star last night.

Chairman Abdul Alim, however, rejected the allegation, saying that some BNP men were carrying out a propaganda campaign against him.

Yesterday was the last day for the withdrawal of nomination papers of the first phase and the filing of nomination papers for the second phase.

Apart from a few scattered incidents, candidates withdrew and submitted nomination papers peacefully.

In Jessore, a local BNP leader was kept locked inside a UP office allegedly by AL men for submitting nomination papers in Churamankathi under sadar upazila. Police later rescued him, reports a correspondent.

In Sherpur, AL-nominated chairman aspirants of nine UPs under Nakla upazila submitted nomination papers after marching in procession in violation of electoral rules.

As per the rules, all sorts of procession and showdown are prohibited during the filing of nomination papers.

The EC yesterday extended the deadline for a day for submitting nomination papers in three UPs under Pashuram upazila of Feni.

Meanwhile, a BNP delegation led by its standing committee member Moyeen Khan met Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad yesterday afternoon.

After the meeting, Khan said the EC was in the absolute grip of the government.