The divisional commissioner of Dhaka yesterday okayed the candidature of Tabith M Awal, bidding for the mayor in the north, after hearing on a complaint against him lodged by state-run Sonali Bank.
The complaint was raised after the returning officer for the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) polls cleared Tabith’s nomination in primary scrutiny on April 1.
Dhaka Divisional Commissioner Zillar Rahman arranged the hearing after getting the complaint that Tabith was a loan defaulter.
On April 4, when Zillar was hearing on Tabith’s father Mintoo’s appeal, a messenger informed him that a company named Q&K had a Tk2 crore loan with Sonali Bank’s corporate branch.
Tabith is the deputy chief executive officer of that company and Mintoo its chairman. Mintoo was also the guarantor of that loan. Bangladesh Bank had earlier informed the Election Commission that Tabith was a defaulter in connection with that loan.
According to election rules, Tabith was a defaulter in the “Bankers Book of Accounts” because he had not cleared his dues with the bank on March 29, the last date of submitting nomination papers. However, during yesterday’s hearing, it came out that Tabith cleared his dues after that date.
Contacted, Tabith told the Dhaka Tribune last night: “I am happy that the divisional commissioner declared me a valid candidate. I hope that this election will be fair.”
Yesterday, Tabith’s father Abdul Awal Mintoo, BNP’s first choice for the mayor in the north of Dhaka, filed an appeal with the Supreme Court challenging the cancellation of his nomination.
On the first day of nomination scrutiny on April 1, Dhaka north’s Returning Officer Shah Alam disqualified Mintoo on grounds that neither the proposer nor the seconder of his nomination were voters of that area.
In the subsequent days, Commissioner Zilla and a High Court bench turned down two pleas from Mintoo challenging the cancellation.
Late Monday night, Tabith had a meeting with BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia at her Gulshan residence Feroza. Although the agenda of that meeting is unknown, there are speculations that Tabith may eventually get BNP’s blessings if his father’s appeal is turned down by the apex court as well.