Staff Reporter:
The nomination paper of Tasnim Jara, an independent candidate and former leader of the National Citi-zen Party (NCP), for the Dhaka-9 constituency was cancelled on Saturday.
Dhaka’s Deputy Commissioner and Returning Officer Md Rezaul Karim announced the decision around 11:30am.
Talking to reporters, Jara said she would file an appeal with the Election Commission (EC) challenging the cancellation.
“The nomination paper I submitted as an independent candidate for Dhaka-9 has not been accepted at this stage. However, we will appeal. I have already started the appeal process,” Jara told journalists at the Divisional Commissioner’s office in city’s Segagicha.
Explaining the grounds for the cancellation, Jara said her nomination was rejected due to discrepancies involving the voter information of two signatories among the required one percent of voters’ signatures for independent candidates.
“One voter lives in Khilgaon. Since Khilgaon falls under both Dhaka-9 and Dhaka-11, he was unaware that he was not a voter of Dhaka-9, and there was no way for him to know. He checked the website but could not find his voter number. Based on his NID, he believed he was a Dhaka-9 voter and signed ac-cordingly,” she said.
In the second case, she said, the address mentioned on the voter’s NID hard copy indicated Dhaka-9, leading the person to believe he was a voter of the constituency. “However, according to Election Com-mission records, he is not a Dhaka-9 voter, which again was beyond his knowledge,” she said.
Describing the cancellation as a challenge in her electoral journey, Jara said she is prepared to face it through the legal process.
