M Manjur Alam files nomination for Chittagong mayor polls

M Manjur Alam, Chittagong mayor until he stood down this week, has filed his nomination to contest for the position yet again.

Flanked by top Chittagong BNP leaders Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury and Abdullah Al Noman, he submitted the papers to the returning officer for the Apr 28 polls on Sunday.

“Our formal election process starts with submission of nominations,” Noman told reporters.

The BNP leader alleged Awami League leaders Mosharraf Hossain and Hasan Mahmud of violating the electoral code of conduct.

Hossain is the public works minister while Mahmud, a former minister, is the publications secretary of the ruling party.

“We have filed a formal complaint with the returning officer. Let’s see what steps he takes,” said the BNP leader.

The BNP considers this election as a ‘challenge’ and a part of its ongoing movement for an interim national election, said Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury.

“We have told the election commission to maintain a level-playing field for all candidates,” the BNP Chittagong metropolitan unit chief said while speaking to reporters.

A total of 671 aspirants have collected nomination forms for the posts in Chittagong City Corporation. Of them, 18 for mayor, 559 for Ward councillors and 94 for reserved women councillors.

The deadline to submit nominations ends on Sunday.

Manjur had been elected ward councillor thrice from 1994. He was backed by the Awami League then.

He acted as the mayor when then the mayor and Awami League leader ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury was arrested during the military-backed caretaker government.

After the Awami League took power in 2009, he emerged as a rival of his former political mentor Mohiuddin and won with a margin of around 95,000 votes in the 2010 elections.

The BNP at the time, too, announced its support for him a day after he had announced to contest from the platform of Chittagong Unnayan Andolan.