Mintoo appeals for redress

A day after being disqualified from contesting the Dhaka North City Corporation polls, BNP leader Abdul Awal Mintoo yesterday appealed against the returning officer's (RO) decision to cancel his nomination for a procedural flaw.

Dhaka Divisional Commissioner Zillar Rahman, the appellate authority to adjudicate disputes over candidacies in the two city corporation polls in Dhaka, will hear Mintoo's appeal tomorrow and give his decision.

The RO of the DNCC elections on Wednesday declared the adviser of BNP chief Khaleda Zia ineligible for running the mayor race as he had picked an unqualified voter to support his candidacy.

Under the election law, a DNCC voter would have to propose his candidacy and another to second it.

The person named Abdur Razzaque, who supported Mintoo's nomination, was a voter of Uttara Sector 13 under Harirampur union parishad which is not within the DNCC area.

'BLAME IT ON THE EC'

Mintoo's lawyer Mahbub Uddin Khokon, who submitted the appeal yesterday, blamed the "faulty voter list" prepared by the Election Commission for the mistake.

"Some people of Uttara Sector 13 have been registered as voters of Dhaka North City Corporation … We knew people living in the sector were voters of Dhaka North City Corporation," Khokon told reporters after filing the appeal.

"This is a fault of the Election Commission. So, his (Mintoo's) candidature cannot be cancelled because of a faulty voter list," Khokon argued.

"We hope his nomination will be declared valid after the appeal hearing," he said, adding that they will move the High Court if the cancellation of Mintoo's nomination is upheld in the appeal.

Of the five mayor aspirants disqualified from running the mayoral races in Dhaka North and Dhaka South, Mintoo was the only to be rejected for such a "silly mistake".

Nevertheless, the BNP and its allies say it was the EC's fault, not Mintoo's, that a non-DNCC voter was chosen to support his nomination proposal.

"An allegation against the Election Commission has already been raised that it played a biased role during the scrutiny of nomination papers," said a statement of the 20-party combine last night.

"Besides, its [partisan] bias over the election code of conduct has made the election environment questionable," read the statement, signed by BNP Joint Secretary General Barkatullah Bulu.

A total of 42 people have been declared eligible for contesting the mayoral polls in the two city corporations in Dhaka.

INTENTIONAL MISTAKE?

Questions have arisen within the BNP high-ups over whether Mintoo's mistake was intentional.

Mintoo was provided a CD containing the full voter list of the DNCC when he bought the nomination paper. So, he had ample scopes to check whether or not the person, who seconded his candidacy, was a DNCC voter, said a senior BNP leader.

"Mintoo is a meticulous man. I still can't believe how he could make such a silly mistake," he told The Daily Star yesterday, preferring anonymity.

Party insiders said Mintoo had been preparing himself for the mayoral bid for over a decade. The BNP leader even has done "substantial research work" and written some articles about the city problems and ways to resolve those.

Interestingly, Mintoo had his son Tabith Awal file mayoral nomination along with his for the DNCC elections, and Tabith has been declared an eligible candidate.

This has fueled suspicion among BNP leaders about Mintoo's "real plan".

"I believe Mintoo has a plan and he is doing everything according to that," said another senior leader of the party. He too wished not to be named.

With Mintoo out of the race, the BNP now has no candidate from within the party in the DNCC mayoral polls.

However, party sources said the BNP might lend support to Mintoo's son in his battle against Awami League-blessed Annisul Huq. But it was waiting for the adjudication of Mintoo's appeal before making the final announcement.

In Dhaka South, the party is likely extend support to its Standing Committee Member Mirza Abbas.

TWO MORE APPEALS

Former BNP lawmaker Nasir Uddin Ahmed Pintu too appealed against the rejection of his nomination for the DSCC mayor polls.

"His (Pintu's) candidature has been cancelled due to legal discrimination. We hope his candidature will be declared valid following the hearing," said Pintu's lawyer Aminul Islam after filing the appeal yesterday.

The hearing is scheduled for tomorrow.

Pintu's nomination was rejected for providing wrong information in the nomination paper about the cases against him.

Besides, another DSCC mayoral aspirant Rezaul Karim, whose nomination was canceled by the RO, also lodged an appeal against the decision.

*In yesterday's issue, we mistakenly mentioned "Uttara Sector 12" instead of "Uttara Sector 13" in Abdur Razzaque's address.