Three Chattogram Jamaat leaders buy nomination forms as independent candidates

Three leaders of the Jamaat-e-Islami, the party that has lost its registration with the Election Commission, have bought nomination forms to run as independent MP candidates.

Chattogram Bureaubdnews24.com
Published : 11 Nov 2018, 09:04 PM
Updated : 12 Nov 2018, 03:46 AM

They are former Chattogram Metropolitan Jamaat Nayeb-e-Ameer Shahjahan Chowdhury, the central committee’s Nayeb-e-Ameer ANM Shamsul Islam and Banshkhali Upazila Chairman Zahirul Islam.

Both Shahjahan and Shamsul are behind bars. They bought nomination forms for Chattogram 15 (Satkania) constituency.

Shahjahan was elected MP from the seat in 2001 and Shamsul in 2008.

Zahirul wants to run for the Chattogram 16 (Banshkhali) constituency.

The Jamaat, a key partner of the BNP in the 20-Party alliance, joined the 2001 and 2008 elections under the alliance.

The High Court declared its registration with the EC illegal, stripping it of the rights to contest in elections as a political party in 2013. The BNP-led alliance later stayed away from the 2014 election.

Recently, the EC dropped the Jamaat’s weighing scale logo from the list of electoral symbols for parties following orders of the Supreme Court, which uses the logo. 

The EC also recently gazetted the court decision on the registration of Jamaat, which opposed Bangladesh’s independence during the Liberation War. Its top leaders were hanged in past few years for war crimes.      

In this circumstance, seven of the BNP’s partners said they would contest in the elections with the party’s paddy sheaf logo.

The Jamaat has not yet cleared its stance on the issue, but its leaders have started collecting nomination forms as independent candidates.

In Chattogram, a total of 16 leaders, including the three of the Jamaat, some of the ruling Awami League and its rival the BNP, have collected nomination forms, the district’s Election Officer Md Munir Hossain Khan told bdnews24.com.

He also said the aspirants have been asked to remove their billboards, banners and other means of publicity within Wednesday.