Dhaka, Feb 14 (bdnews24.com)—Jatiya Party MP Abul Kashem is on the verge of losing his Tangail-5 seat after the Supreme Court declined to overturn a High Court order.
"Appeal dismissed." was all a three-strong Appellate Division bench led by chief justice Mohammad Muzammel Hossain said in its order after hearing his petition on Tuesday.
Barrister Rokanuddin Mahmud argued the case at the hearing for Kashem while barrister Ameer-ul Islam represented Mahmudul Hasan, the BNP's candidate who got the second highest number of votes in the 2008 elections.
Ameer-ul Islam told journalists that the court scrapped Kashem's petition. It means the High Court order declaring Mahmudul Hasan as the member of parliament from that seat remains in force, he added.
The ruling Awami League-led Grand Alliance candidate Kashem had polled 147,152 votes to Hasan's 72,805 in the balloting.
The High Court on Dec 15, 2009 had ordered the Election Commission to cancel Kashem's parliament membership, declaring his candidacy void on grounds of loan default.
It had also ordered the EC to declare Hasan elected.
Later, the Appellate Division halted the HC verdict from taking effect and asked Kashem to file a regular appeal.
Hasan had filed a petition with the High Court, in February 2009, claiming that Kashem had defaulted on payment of a loan worth Tk 15.45 crore with Sonali Bank.
In his petition, Hasan also claimed that Kashem had unpaid telephone bills amounting to Tk 32,000 with the Mymensingh Telephone Exchange.
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