A BNP aspirant is contesting in the 11th parliament election with 168 cases pending against him.   The candidate is Sultan Salah Uddin Tuku, secretary of the Jatiyatabadi Juba Dal central body. He has been in jail since last May.  It has been learnt that Sultan Sakah Uddin Tuku is the younger brother of ex-deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu, who is in jail, too.  Salam Pintu has been given the death penalty in connection with the August-21 grenade attack.

 Another younger brother of Salam Pintu, Moulana Taj Uddin, has also been sentenced to death in the same case.  Sources in the Tangail EC office say the BNP issued letters of nomination in favour of Sultan Salah Uddin Tuku and his brother Shamsul Alam Tofa for the Tangail-2 (Gopalpur-Bhuapur) constituency. The two nomination papers have been declared valid after scrutiny.

 Sources say the BNP will select Sultan Salah Uddin Tuku because he had contested in the 9th parliamentary polls from the same seat, as Salam Pintu was in jail.  The AL, too, has issued letters in favour of two candidates, Tanvir Hasan and Moseuzzaman Romel. Their nomination papers have also been declared valid.

 From the affidavit of Sultan Salah Uddin Tuku it is learnt that 139 cases have been lodged against Tuku from 2012 to February 2018. Of them, a total of 82 cases are now under trial, while 57 are still being investigated.

 Beside these, prosecution in 29 other cases have been suspended by the order of the higher courts. The cases he has been indicted mostly relate to explosives, the speedy trial Act, and criminal offences. Most of the cases have been lodged in Dhaka Metropolitan police stations.  Tuku was also indicated in four cases at the time of the previous general election but was acquitted of the charges.  From the affidavit of Shamsul Alam Tofa, president of the Tangail district BNP, it is learnt that two cases are running against him. Earlier, he had been jailed in an arms case, but was later acquitted.

 AL aspirant Moseuzzzaman Romel has no case against him.  Tanvir Hasan, another aspirant, was indicted in seven cases but was acquitted of the charges.   Khondoker Asaduzzaman was elected MP from the seat in 1996, 2008 and 2014 and Abdus Salam Pintu was elected MP in 1991 and 2001.