AK Azad, an independent candidate for Faridpur-3 constituency, has appealed to the Election Commission to cancel the candidacy of Awami League candidate Shamim Haque as he allegedly holds dual citizenship in Bangladesh and Netherlands.
The appeal was submitted by AK Azad’s lawyer Golam Kibria on Friday.
Golam Kibria said Azad had previously provided details regarding Shamim Haque's dual citizenship in a written complaint during the nomination selection process.
However, instead of rejecting Haque's nomination paper, the returning officer approved it. An appeal has been filed to challenge the decision, said the lawyer.
Kibria claimed that Shamim Haque is not eligible to run for the position of Member of Parliament because of his foreign citizenship per Article 66(2) of the constitution and Article 12(1)(6) of the Representation of the People Order, 1972.
He provided the returning officer with evidence, including a photocopy of Haque's Netherlands passport.
According to Kibria, Haque's declaration is false and his nomination should be revoked because he neglected to include this information in the affidavit as required by Section 12(2)(a) of the Representation of the People Order.
According to the Representation of the People Order, 1972, an election candidate cannot hold dual citizenship.
Notably, the district returning officer cancelled the nomination of the Awami League candidate Shammi Ahmed in the Barishal-4 constituency due to dual citizenship.
According to the schedule announced by the Election Commission, the deadline for submission of nomination forms was November 30.
The returning officers accepted a total of 1,985 nomination papers and rejected 731 others submitted by aspirants in the country’s 300 constituencies to run in the 12th parliamentary election scheduled to be held on January 7.
The Election Commission will receive appeals from aspirants till December 9. The appeals will be disposed of from December 10 to 15.
The last date for withdrawal of candidature is December 17 and the returning officers will distribute electoral symbols among the candidates on December 18.
The candidates can engage in electioneering from December 18 to January 5 (8am), 48 hours before the balloting, which will run from 8am to 4pm without any recess on January 7.