Bangladesh is going to polls on Dec 30, 2018 to elect the members of parliament.
HC refuses to hear Andaleeve Partho’s petition challenging Farooque’s candidacy
The High Court has refused to hear a petition challenging the candidacy of the Awami League’s Akbar Hossain Pathan Farooque for the Dhaka-17 constituency in the Dec 30 parliamentary election.
Published : 26 Dec 2018, 09:36 PM
Updated : 26 Dec 2018, 09:36 PM
The court said on Wednesday that petitioner Andaleeve Rahman Partho should have appealed to Election Commission first, according to the lawyer for the Bangladesh Jatiya Party of BJP leader.
Partho is contesting for the seat consisting of Gulshan, Banani, Cantonment and parts of Bhashantek as a candidate of the Jatiya Oikya Front alliance with the BNP’s ‘paddy sheaf’ logo.
The bench of Justice JBM Hassan and Md Khairul Alam refused to hear the petition tagging it “not pressed”.
Ahsanul Karim and Sayeed Ahmed Raza stood for Partho while Attorney General Mahbubey Alam and his deputy Motaher Hossain Sazu represented the state.
Farooque had taken loans of more than Tk 50 billion from the Sonali Bank but failed to repay, Karim said.
The attorney general showed papers confirming that the bank rescheduled the loans on Dec 2 and the Bangladesh Bank dropped Farooque’s name from the list of loan defaulters the same day, according to Karim.
But Farooque’s affidavit submitted to the EC is dated Nov 28 and so the Dec 2 papers cannot be considered while scrutinising the Awami League candidate’s nomination papers, Karim argued.
“The court did not say anything about the merit of the case. It did not accept the writ petition and cited the technicality that Andaleeve Partho had not appealed to the EC first.
“But the court said my client has reasons to file petition and he can move the Eelection Commission after the election,” he added.
He also said it was ‘regrettable” that the EC had “overlooked default loans worth more than Tk 50 billion”.
Partho is son-in-law to Sheikh Helal, son of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s brother Sheikh Naser.
Farooque, a popular Bangla film star of yesteryears, bagged the ruling Awami League’s highly-sought ticket for the seat.
RELATED STORIES
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has urged voters to elect Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, the illustrious ODI cricket captain and Awami League candidate for Narail-2, in the Dec 30 polls.
The Awami League has received a record percentage of votes in the recent general election that also served BNP its biggest ever defeat.
The ruling Awami League has given its initial approval to the candidates who will compete for the party in the coming 11th parliamentary election.
