Hossen Sohel of DOT
BNP has filed an appeal petition with the Election Commission (EC) against the commission’s rejection of its chief Khaleda Zia’s nominations in three constituencies, reports The Daily Star.
A six-member team of BNP, led by the party’s law affairs secretary Barrister Kaiser Kamal yesterday submitted the petition.
After submitting the petition Barrister Kaiser Kamal said to the journalists, “We trust the Election Commission and if a fair decision is made we will get the nominations of Khaleda Zia from the EC.”
Without Khaleda Zia the upcoming general election would become a farce, he added.
Regarding a High Court verdict about Khaleda Zia’s participation in the election, he said, according to article 66 of our constitution, appeal is continuation of a trial.
Khaleda Zia’s nomination rejection for the graft cases is illegal as appeal is going on in both the cases, he said.
There are many previous examples considering which the EC should accept her nominations if it is working in a fair manner, he added.
All the three nominations filed on behalf of Khaleda for contesting in the parliamentary election from Feni-1, Bogura-6 and Bogura-7 constituencies were cancelled after the scrutiny by returning officer (RO) due to her conviction in two corruption cases for which she is in jail now.
The EC has received a record number of appeals by parliamentary aspirants whose nomination papers were rejected by returning officers.
The ROs rejected 786 nomination papers on December 2.
Conviction in cases, defaulting on loans and not paying utility service bills were among the reasons why the candidacies were cancelled.
On October 29, Khaleda was convicted and sentenced to seven years’ rigorous imprisonment by a special court in Dhaka in Zia Charitable Trust corruption case.
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