Abdul Awal Mintoo’s candidacy was cancelled for valid reasons, say election insiders. Although there are some gray areas in the law which may be subject to interpretation, election officials point out that the BNP-backed mayoral aspirant for Dhaka north was disqualified for a very basic violation.
Business magnate Mintoo was said to have harboured ambitions of becoming Dhaka Mayor from even before the turn of the century. Being an advisor to BNP chief Khaleda Zia, also leader of the main political opposition, the former FBCCI president was endorsed by the party to run for mayor of Dhaka north this time.
His candidacy was cancelled by the Election Commission on April Fool’s Day, the first day of scrutiny. Mintoo’s appeal against that decision was rejected yesterday.
Former election chief ATM Shamsul Huda said he had fallen victim to a duality of the city corporation.
Referring to news reports he said Mintoo’s seconder hailed from Harirampur Union, on the fringes of Dhaka north — an area where people pay taxes to the city and enjoy its services although they do not fall within the city corporation.
Hence he is not a voter of Dhaka city, pointed out Huda: "If I were the returning officer, I would have cancelled his nomination too.” Another senior election official with substantial experience, refused to go on record, also echoed Huda’s take on the matter.
The former chief election commissioner wondered why Mintoo had chosen his seconder from such a remote area. “Was there no one else in Dhaka?”
He said, “Usually in such sensitive cases, candidates file more than one nomination just as back up. Why did he submit just one? It was foolish.”
Mintoo’s seconder Abdur Razzaque, was a voter of Uttara Sector 13, which falls under Harirampur Union Council and not within the limits of Dhaka north.
But Shamsul Huda’s colleague in the same commission, Shakhawat Hossain, told Dhaka Tribune that there were some gray areas in the law. “It is a matter of interpretation. When we were in the office, we gave candidates the opportunity to correct minor errors and guided the returning officers accordingly.”
Huda differed though. “The point is whether you have adhered to the rules.” He said it was a question of respecting the laws.
According to the City Corporation Election Rules, the returning officer may disqualify a mayoral aspirant for a number of reasons. Section 14 of the rules, that deals with the issue, spells out the reasons.
A candidature may be cancelled if the returning officer deems that person ineligible, or if the aspirant has not duly submitted the affidavit or if there has been a violation in the process of nominating the candidate. Two of those points explicitly deal with the eligibility of the ‘proposer’ and the ‘seconder.’
The rules say that the returning officer may cancel a candidature if the ‘proposer’ and ‘seconder’ are not eligible (Section 14.3.b) or, if their signatures are not deemed valid (Section 14.3.d).
The rules state that any voter may propose and another voter may second the proposal for candidacy.
A proviso adds that the returning officer may, however, allow an aspirant to correct minor omissions.
The returning officer had asked, with Mintoo’s nomination papers in hand, if the candidate, proposer and seconder were all present.
He then pointed out that Abdur Razzak who had seconded the candidature, was not a voter of Dhaka north.
Soon after the announcement, a BNP delegation met Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad and requested him to allow Mintoo to correct the anomaly.
Unlike Dhaka south where several mayoral aspirants affiliated with BNP have submitted their nomination papers besides the party backed Mirza Abbas, Dhaka north did not see any such redundancy except perhaps Mintoo’s son Tabith Awal.