Sylhet City polls: Nomination of 5 independent mayoral candidates rejected
The Election Commission has rejected the nomination application of five mayoral candidates in Sylhet City Corporation elections. All five of them are independent mayoral candidates.
On Thursday, the election officer of Sylhet regional office made the announcement after evaluating the nomination papers of the mayoral candidates for the upcoming city polls, returning officer Md Foisal Qadir confirmed the matter to The Business Standard.
However, they will be able to challenge the decision within the next three days.
The five independent candidates are Shamsun Noor Talukder, Mohammad Abdul Mannan Khan, Maulana Zahid Uddin, Md Shahjahan Mia, and Mushtaq Ahmed Rauf Mostafa.
According to the returning officer, the decision to cancel their nomination followed multiple reasons including a mismatch in assets, non-submission of income tax return certificates and inconsistency in names of the people mentioned as supporters in the voter list.
Earlier, a total of 11 candidates submitted nomination papers for the post of mayor in the upcoming Sylhet city election. Among them, six have bagged the official nod.
They are: Awami League nominated Md Anwaruzzaman Chowdhury, Jatiya Party's Nazrul Islam Babul, Islami Andolan Bangladesh's Hafiz Maulana Mahmudul Hasan, Zaker Party's Md Zahirul Alam and independent candidates Mohammad Abdul Hanif Kutu and Md Shalah Uddin Rimon.
After sorting the nomination papers for the post of mayoral candidates in the morning, the selection of the councillor candidates started this afternoon.
According to the schedule announced by the Election Commission, the last date for withdrawal of candidature in Sylhet is 1 June. The city will go into polls with electronic voting machines (EVMs) on 21 June.