Gazipur City polls: Zayda Khatun sent show cause notice over violation of code of conduct
The Election Commission has issued a show cause notice to Zayeda Khatun, the independent mayoral candidate in the upcoming Gazipur City Corporation polls for using her picture along with her son former mayor Mohammad Jahangir Alam's picture in posters, leaflets and handbills in violation of the electoral conduct rules.
The show cause notice was issued on Thursday (11 May) in a letter signed by Gazipur City Corporation Election Returning Officer Faridul Islam seeking to know within 24 hours why action will not be taken against Zayeda Khatun as per City Corporation (Election Conduct) rules.
A copy of the notice has been obtained by The Business Standard.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
The letter says, "On the occasion of the Gazipur City Corporation Election 2023, as an independent candidate for the post of mayor, Zayeda Khatun has used the name and picture of former mayor Mohammad Jahangir Alam along with his picture in posters, leaflets and handbills after getting the table clock symbol - violating rule 8 (5) of the City Corporation (Conduct of Elections) Law 2016.
"No contesting candidate can print or use any name, picture or symbol other than their own picture or symbol in the election campaign posters. Provided that the contesting candidate belongs to any political party. If nominated, in that case, they can only print posters or leaflets with pictures of the current party leader of their party," it added.
"According to rule 31 of the said rules, if any candidate or any other person violates any provision of the code of conduct before the election, it shall be considered an offense and for such offense the person concerned shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 (six) months or to a fine not exceeding Tk50,000 or shall be punished with both, and provision for cancellation of candidature by the Election Commission as per rule 32 is mentioned."
After the nomination paper rejection of former Gazipur City Corporation Mayor Zahangir Alam, his mother Zayeda Khatun came to the limelight as the strongest rival of Awami League-backed candidate Azamat Ullah Khan in the next city polls.
Although the independent candidate has become highly talked about in the political arena, local voters are not very interested in her. They think Zayeda Khatun is just another name for Jahangir Alam.
