3.5 years after election, a court verdict declares Shahadat Chattogram mayor

As the interim government removed all city corporation mayors, it is unclear how the court verdict will be implemented

The Chattogram Electoral Tribunal has declared BNP candidate Dr Shahadat Hossain as the mayor of the Chattogram City Corporation three and a half years after the election was held.

District and Session Judge Mohammad Khairul Amin of the Chattogram Electoral Tribunal announced the verdict on Tuesday.

Shahadat, former organising secretary of the BNP, filed the case with the electoral tribunal complaining of vote rigging and seeking the cancellation of the election result.

“Shahadat has been declared the mayor in the verdict of the case he had filed,” said BNP Office Secretary Idris Ali.

“In the verdict, the court ordered the Election Commission secretary to publish a gazette in 10 days and appoint me as the mayor,” Shahadat told the media after the verdict was announced.

The interim government had already removed the former Chattogram City Corporation mayor M Rezaul Karim from the post. On Aug 19, the Chattogram divisional commissioner got the responsibility of administrator of the city corporation instead of the mayor.

“The mayor was removed in August and the tribunal announced the verdict today,” said Shahadat’s legal counsel Mafizul Haque Bhuiyan, when asked how the authorities would decide about the mayoral post.

“We’ll get to know about the court’s directive once we receive the full verdict. But as far as we know, the authorities have to issue a gazette in 10 days and appoint Dr Shahadat Hossain mayor.”

Shahadat bagged the second-highest vote total in the Chattogram City Corporation election in 2021. The Election Commission declared the Awami League candidate in the election M Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, joint general secretary of the Chattogram City Committee of Awami League, as the mayor after he secured the most votes.

Later on Feb 24, 2021, BNP leader Shahadat filed a case with the Electoral Tribunal naming nine people. The case documents said that after Rezaul Karim was allocated the boat symbol, the city corporation officers began to contact him. It showed that the ‘election was a mere formality’, he claimed.

“That’s why there was no account of ballots cast in the election. In some centres, no printed copy of the EVM totals was given. Only 4-6 percent votes were cast until the afternoon on the voting day. However, the documents said that 22 percent of votes were cast.”

Awami League nominee Rezaul Karim Chowdhury won the election securing 369,284 votes in the election held on Jan 27, 2021. His nearest contestant, BNP leader Shahadat, with the paddy sheaf symbol, bagged 52,489 votes.

The case accused nine people, including Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, then chief election commissioner KM Nurul Huda, regional election officer Md Hasanuzzaman, the then Election Commission secretary and other mayoral contestants. No defence counsel was present in the court on Tuesday.