Nominations of seven mayoral contestants declared valid

CHATTOGRAM, March 02: Nominations of seven mayoral hopefuls in the upcoming Chattogram City Corporation (CCC) polls, including those of ruling Awami League's (AL) Rezaul Karim Chowdhury and opposition BNP's Dr Shahadat Hossain, were declared valid by the Election Commission (EC) on Sunday.

Five other candidates whose nominations were declared valid are Jatiya Party's (JP) Solaiman Alam, MA Matin of Islami Front, Wahed Murad of Islamic Front Bangladesh (IFB), Md Jannatul Islam of Islami Andolon (IA) and Abul Manjur of National People's Party (NPP).

Of the nine mayoral candidates, the EC scrapped nominations of two, declaring those of seven valid.

The two mayoral hopefuls whose nominations were cancelled are Khokan Chowdhury and Md Tanjir Abedin (both independent).

Returning Officer for CCC polls- 2020 Mohammed Hasanuzzaman made the announcement at Chattogram Shilpakala Academy hall auditorium in the morning in presence of the mayoral and ward councillors candidates.

The CCC polls will be held on March 29. The date of withdrawal of nomination papers is March 8 while symbols will be allotted among the candidates on March 9.

BNP mayoral candidate Dr Shahadat Hossain said, "The EC can defer the polls date. It can deploy army for the election, but it is doing nothing."

AL mayoral candidate Rezaul Karim Chowdhury said, "BNP always raises allegations centring polls. I will follow the electoral code of conduct properly. I won't surely violate the rules and regulations of EC. So, I hope they (BNP) can't raise any allegation against me."

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