RpCC election: EC serves show-cause notice to BNP candidate

Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader Kawsar Zaman Babla, who was nominated by his party as a mayoral candidate in the Rangpur City Corporation (RpCC) polls, has been served with a show-cause notice for violating polls regulations. Rangpur regional Returning Officer Subhash Chandra Sarker served the notice to Babla allegedly for holding a procession with his party activists near Sumi Community Centre in the city on Wednesday. However, Babla claimed it was not a procession. “We did not bring out any procession near Sumi Community Centre. Around 20 and 25 activists had tea together in the mentioned area. I heard the Election Commission sent me a show-cause notice, but I have not received it yet,” he said. He complained that the government did not want a fair election. “The government does not want BNP to take part in the election. I think they are not accepting my participation. The Awami League candidate brought out a procession and organized a showdown in the city’s Medical Intersection area, but the returning officer did not notice that. Rules and regulations should not be different for different people. The returning officer should notice everyone’s misconduct,” said Babla. When contacted, Returning Officer Subhash said: “There was no complaint against the BNP candidate. We noticed pictures in the newspapers that showed banners which read he was holding a procession. We served him with a show-cause notice based on those reports.” Meanwhile, Jatiya Party (JaPa)-nominated mayoral candidate Mustafizur Rahman Mostafa complained that ruling party-backed candidate Shorof Uddin had distributed leaflets among Rangpur citizens, asking them not to vote for JaPa’s plough symbol. Mostafa also filed a complaint against the Awami League candidate to the returning officer with copies of the leaflets. He said Awami League's propaganda would not be successful and hoped that he would win the polls. Sorof denied the allegations and said these were nothing but propaganda.