The nomination papers of Anisul Islam Mahmud, chairman of a breakaway faction of the Jatiya Party, have been rejected for the Chattogram-5 (Hathazari) parliamentary constituency, report agencies.
The decision was announced on Saturday by Chattogram Divisional Commissioner and Returning Officer Md Zia Uddin during the screening of nomination papers.
An executive magistrate at the Chattogram Divisional Commissioner's Office said discrepancies were found between the signature on the party nomination document submitted by Anisul and the signature on the party endorsement sent by the Election Commission.
As a result, the nomination was declared invalid, he said.
Meanwhile, Cumilla Returning Officer and Deputy Commissioner Md Reza Hasan ruled Kafi's nomination invalid on Friday during scrutiny of papers for the Cumilla-5 (Burichang-Brahmanpara) constituency.
Kafi told reporters the rejection was triggered by a discrepancy in the Election Commission's records of CPB's leadership.
"A few days ago, our new party committee elected a president and a general secretary through a congress, and we informed the Election Commission. But the commission did not update the information," he said.
Besides, Tasnim Jara, who is seeking to contest the Dhaka-9 parliamentary seat as an independent candidate after leaving the National Citizen Party (NCP), has said her nomination papers have been rejected by election officials.
Speaking to reporters outside the returning officer's office in Segunbagicha, Jara said the decision was communicated to her around 11:30am.
Under Election Commission rules, independent candidates are required to submit verified signatures from at least 1.0 per cent of registered voters in their constituency.
She said election officials randomly selected 10 voters from the list of registered voters submitted with her nomination papers for verification.
"Eight of those confirmed their signatures, one could not be reached by phone, and another said he was not a registered voter of the constituency," she said.
She added that she was preparing to appeal against the decision.
On the other hand, Hasnat Kaiyum, chief coordinator of Rastro Songskar Andolan, has been ruled ineligible to run for parliament from the Kishoreganj-5 constituency.
Independent aspirant Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Iqbal, president of the upazila unit of BNP, has also been barred from standing for that seat.
The verification process was carried out on Saturday between 10:00 am and 1:00 pm at the conference room of the district administration office
