EC declares Manjur, Nasir’s nominations for Chittagong City polls valid

The Election Commission has declared valid nominations of eight candidates, including ruling Awami League-endorsed AJM Nasir Uddin and BNP-supported M Manjur Alam, for the Chittagong City Corporation elections.

Five other aspirants have been asked to submit some more papers by Wednesday afternoon, the first day of nomination screening.

Elections to three city corporations in Dhaka and Chittagong are slated for Apr 28.

Outgoing mayor Alam is contesting the polls under the banner of ‘Chittagong Unnayan Andolan’ (development movement), while Nasir Uddin is a candidate of the ‘Nagarik Committee’.

Returning Officer Abdul Baten on Wednesday said nominations of Jatiya Party’s Solaiman Alam Sheth, BNF’s Arif Moinuddin, Gazi Md Alauddin, Forkan Chowdhury, Mojibul Haq Shukkur, Waes Hossain Bhuiyan were also cleared.

“They furnished all required documents and there was also no complaint against them,” he said of the eight candidates.

Abul Kalam Azad and Shafiul Alam did not submit, along with their nominations, documents to substantiate their educational qualification.

Syed Sajjad Joha and Saifuddin Ahmed Robi did not submit documents of income tax returns while MA Matin’s papers, filed with the nomination, were not attested.

Returning Officer Baten said the EC would take a call on their candidature once they submit valid documents.

Although 18 persons had collected nominations for mayor’s post, only 13 submitted them within the deadline.

In the last election, Alam had defeated his mentor and Awami League-endorsed ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury by about 95,000 votes.