Tangail by-polls
Kader Siddique nomination valid: HC
Kader Siddique, president of the Krishak Sramik Janata League, can contest the Tangail-4 by-election as the High Court yesterday declared his nomination legal. The court asked the Election Commission (EC) to accept his nomination.
The EC scrapped the nominations of Kader Siddique and his wife, Nasrin, on October 13 on charges of loan default.
An HC bench, comprising Justice Miftauddin Chowdhury and Justice Kazi Md Ejarul Haque Akanda, passed the order after hearing a petition filed by Siddique on Tuesday, challenging the legality of the ECs decision. The court also issued a rule asking why cancellation of his nomination should not be declared illegal. Five persons, including the Chief Election Commissioner and the returning officer of Tangail, have been asked to come up with the explanation. The plaintiffs counsel, Ragib Rauf Chowdhury, told journalists at the court premises that Siddique will be able to take part in the parliamentary by-election.
The returning officer of the Tangail-4 by-election, Mohammad Alimuzzaman, told The Independent that they would follow the order of the High Court. We have not got a copy of the order. We will follow the courts order, he added.
Siddique said at the court premises: Ive got justice from the High Court. Now I want to go to the people to get their verdict. I believe in justice. The court has tried to protect the rule of law by issuing an order to accept my nomination.
The Tangail-4 constituency fell vacant after Siddiques elder brother and former post and telecommunication minister, Abdul Latif Siddique, resigned from Parliament last month following uproar over his remarks on Islam and Hajj in the USA last year.
Later, the EC announced the schedule for holding polls for the parliamentary seat and set November 10 as the election date. But the returning officer of Tangail-4 cancelled the nominations of Siddique and his wife for default by his firm Sonar Bangla Engineering that borrowed Tk. 10.88 crore from Agrani Bank. Nasrin is a director of the firm.
Siddique and his wife filed an appeal at the Election Commission on October 16. The commission, headed by Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad, scrapped their petition and declared their nominations illegal last Sunday. Siddique filed a writ petition before the High Court on Tuesday.
At a press conference on Monday, Siddique alleged that the state-run Agrani Bank had unfairly branded him a loan defaulter.
The KSJL, in a press release signed by its joint secretary Iqbal Siddique, strongly protested the statement of Attorney General Mahbubey Alam that the State will appeal against the HC order.
The Krishak Sramik Janata League thinks that the Election Commission definitely has the legal right to appeal against the courts order, but not the attorney general. The party is respectful to the rule of law. So the party hopes that the attorney general will follow the path of law, the release said.
