BNP's Sarwar Alamgir's Chattogram-2 candidacy valid, High Court rules

The ruling clears the last hurdle standing between him and taking his parliamentary oath

The High Court has ruled that the candidacy of BNP's Sarwar Alamgir, who won the Chattogram-2 seat in the 13th parliamentary election, is valid.

The ruling clears the way for him to take his oath as an MP.

A bench of Justice Fahmida Kader and Justice Md Asif Hasan delivered the verdict on Thursday.

The returning officer had declared Sarwar's nomination paper valid at scrutiny.

But Jamaat-e-Islami candidate Md Nurul Amin filed an appeal with the Election Commission (EC), alleging Sarwar was a loan defaulter.

The EC upheld the appeal on Jan 18, cancelling his nomination.

Sarwar challenged the decision, filing a writ petition with the High Court on Jan 19.

The court stayed the EC's cancellation.

Nurul then sought leave to appeal before the Appellate Division, which granted the petition on Feb 3.

The order allowed Sarwar to contest in the Feb 12 election, but barred publication of the seat's results until the appeal was finally settled.