High Court clears way for BNP candidate Kawsar Zaman Babla to contest Rangpur city polls

The High Court has removed a writ petition of the Sonali Bank from its schedule that called for cancellation of BNP candidate Kawsar Zaman Babla’s nomination in the Rangpur city polls.

Justice Salma Masud Chowdhury and Justice AKM Zahirul Hoque were due to hear the petition on Thursday but the court later removed it from its schedule, Babla’s lawyer Badruddoza Badal has told bdnews24.com.

“Now there was no legal bar for Babla to contest the mayoral election,” he said.

When asked if any other High Court bench would hear the matter, Badal said: “There is no time for that. The court goes on vacation tomorrow and only six days are left to the election.”

State-owned Sonali Bank filed the writ petition on Tuesday after the Election Commission dismissed the lender’s allegations against Babla.

Advocate Shamim Khaled filed the petition on behalf of Sonali Bank.

On Nov 27, Sonali Bank accused Kawsar Zaman Babla of loan delinquency and asked the Rangpur divisional commissioner to scrap his nomination.

But it failed to prove the claims and its petition was turned down by the EC on Nov 30.

The returning officer in Rangapur confirmed nominations of Babla and six others a day before Sonali Bank came up with the claim that Babla had defaulted on repayments of a loan of Tk 420 million.

The EC is scheduled to hold the mayoral election in Rangpur city on Dec 21.