A tribunal in Dahaka on Thursday declared Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader Ishraque Hossain as the mayor of Dhaka South City Corporation by rejecting the results of the elections held on 1 February 2020.
Joint District Judge Nurul Islam, who is in charge of the Election Tribunal, announced the verdict after defeated candidate Ishraque Hossain, son of former mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka, filed a suit seeking cancellation of the election results due to vote rigging allegations.
In the verdict, the government’s gazette for former mayor Sheikh Fazle Nur Taposh, nephew of former ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, with the boat symbol was cancelled.
Ishraque, who contested the polls with the paddy sheaf symbol, was present in the court during the verdict.
Some eight people, including the then chief election commissioner KM Nurul Huda, returning officer Abdul Baten and former South City Corporation Mayor Barrister Sheikh Fazle Nur Taposh were named as defendants in the case filed by Ishraque on March 3 in 2020.
He alleged that the February 1 election was held amid irregularities and corruption and the election commissioner, in collusion with others, declared Taposh the mayor of DSCC.
Ishraque’s lawyer Taherul Islam Touhid told reporters that they filed the case seeking the cancellation of the election on allegations of irregularities, corruption and inadmissibility.
“We applied to declare him the mayor. Today, the court ruled in our favour,” he said.
Since the fall of Sheikh Hasina government, the whereabouts of Taposh remained unknown. Sources claim that Taposh left the country before the fall of Hasina administration on August 5 in the face of a mass uprising.
As per the law, aggrieved contestant or his nominated person can file a suit before the election tribunal within 30 days of the publication of the results though a gazette. The tribunal will dispose of the case within the next 180 days.
If the aggrieved person becomes unhappy with the verdict, he/she may file an appeal to the tribunal within 30 days and the appeal tribunal will settle the matter within 120 days.
A Chattogram court on October 1 last year also declared BNP leader Shahadat Hossain mayor-elect of the Chattogram City Corporation (CCC) following his lawsuit seeking cancellation of the election results over vote rigging.
Seeking cancellation of the results, Shahadat filed the lawsuit against the Election Commission and nine others back on 24 February 2021.