BNP expels current Cumilla Mayor Sakku

The BNP has expelled current Cumilla City Mayor Monirul Haque Sakku from the party for ignoring a “core” party policy.

Sakku, a consecutive term mayor of the city which was formed in 2011, had decided to take part in the city polls which “are antithetical to the party’s core,” according to a press statement issued by the BNP on Thursday.

The party has also officially excommunicated Sakku, who is contesting in the upcoming city polls as an independent candidate.

The party’s associate organisation, Jatiyatabadi Swachhasebak Dal, has also expelled Nizam Uddin Kaiser, citing similar offences. Nizam is taking part in the polls as an independent candidate as well.

It has been a long-standing BNP policy of not taking part in any kind of polls, local or national, as long as the Awami League is in power.

According to the statement, Sakku violated the policy by becoming a candidate and the party will neither endorse him nor will it allow its members to campaign for him.

"Monirul Haque Sakku has been expelled from all positions including the primary membership of the BNP for good," reads the statement, which was signed by the party’s joint office secretary, Taiful Islam Tipu.

Meanwhile, Sakku, a former joint secretary general of the party’s Cumilla South District Unit, told journalists in the city that he has stepped down from the party.

The newly-formed Election Commission on Apr 25 announced the schedule of polls for the Cumilla city race, along with six other municipalities and 135 Union Parishads. Electronic voting machines will be used in all the elections.

Sakku’s main opponent in the elections will be Arfanul Haque Rifat, the ruling party’s Cumilla city unit General Secretary Arfanul Haque Rifat, who had received nods from the Awami League stalwarts from a crowded pool of 14 nomination seekers.

If Sakku retains his mayorship on Jun 15, it will be his third consecutive win against Awami League candidates in successive polls.

Sakku defeated senior Awami League leader Afzal Khan in the maiden election to the city corporation in 2012 and won again against Afzal’s daughter Anjum Sultana Sima, who later had become a parliament member from the reserved seats, in 2017.