A Correspondent:
Gazipur: The nomination paper of Gazipur City Corporation’s (GCC) former mayor Jahangir Alam was cancelled on Sunday in primary scrutiny, as he is a “loan defaulter”.
However, the nomination of his mother Zaida Khatun was declared valid at the same time.
Faridul Islam, returning officer of the GCC election, announced the cancellation of nomination papers of three candidates, including Jahangir Alam, during scrutinizing.
On the other hand, nomination papers of nine out of the 12 mayoral candidates, including Awami League-backed Advocate Azmat Ullah Khan, were declared valid.
The former Gazipur mayor was the guarantor of an industrial organization. Jahangir was declared a loan defaulter along with the organization, the returning officer said.
Though the former mayor and his counsel submitted documents demonstrating paying off the loan along with the nomination paper, the returning officer cancelled his nomination during the scrutinization.
Terming the role of election officers “biased”, Jahangir said he will move the court to get justice in this regard.
On the other hand, the candidates whose nominations were declared valid termed the process “just and fair”.
Among the mayoral candidates whose nominations were declared valid are Jatiya Party’s MM Niaz Ud-din; independent candidates Abdullah Al Mamun Mandal, Sarkar Shahnur Islam and Md. Harun-or-Rashid.
The deadline for the submission of nomination papers was April 27, while the date for the scrutinization of nomination papers was today, and the last date for withdrawal of candidature has been set on May 8.
Information from the Office of Returning Officer shows 13 candidates withdrew their nomination pa-pers. Meanwhile, 290 submitted nominations for the post of general councillors and 82 for the post of reserved women councillors.
According to the district election office, the total number of registered voters in the 57-ward Gazipur City Corporation is 11,843,363. The voters will choose their next mayor through electronic voting ma-chines (EVMs) on May 25.
