Staff Reporter:
BNP leader Sarwar Alamgir on Thursday night officially assumed the role of lawmaker from Chattogram-2 constituency, after taking his oath of office at the Speaker’s office in National Parliament building.
Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad administered the oath and the Parliament’s Secretary Barrister Md Golam Sarwar moderated the oath taking ceremony.
Also present were: Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, Minister for Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, Deputy Speaker Barrister Kaiser Kamal, Chief Whip Md Nurul Islam, and others.
Earlier in the day, the Election Commission (EC) issued its formal gazette announcing Sarwar as the winning candidate of the Chattogram-2 constituency.
The EC gave its clearance after the High Court (HC) declared Sarwar’s candidacy as legitimate.
In its verdict, a HC bench also declared that it was illegal for the EC to cancel Sarwar’s nomination papers on the grounds he was a loan defaulter.
However, the lawyer of Sarwar’s nearest rival in the election race, Muhammad Nurul Amin, pledged to file an appeal against the HC’s verdict at the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.
On 2 January, the concerned returning officer had accepted Sarwar’s nomination papers. However, Nurul Amin filed an appeal with the EC against the returning officer’s decision.
The EC rejected the returning officer’s approval, and declared Sarwar as ineligible owing to his defaulter status.
Sarwar filed a writ with the HC against the EC move, and secured a verdict in his favour. The Jamaat candidate, Nurul Amin, filed a leave to appeal petition against the decision, and secured a stay order on election result publication, should Sarwar ultimately win.
On 16 June, after the elections, the Appellate Division issued a regular order, stating that the results would remain suspended until the matter is settled at the HC.
