After losing his appeal in the Supreme Court Appellate Division, Abdul Awal Mintoo, BNP’s first choice for the mayor of Dhaka North City Corporation, is now out of the fray.
The Appellate Division yesterday upheld the High Court order that rejected a writ petition filed by Mintoo challenging the cancellation of his nomination by the Election Commission.
A four-member bench led by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha passed the order. The cancellation will stay put following the order, Mintoo’s lawyer AKM Ehsanur Rahman said.
The Appellate Division passed “no order” on the appeal challenging the High Court order which on April 6 summarily dismissed his writ petition filed against the Dhaka divisional commissioner’s order.
Mintoo appealed to the apex court seeking its directives on the EC to accept his nomination and to allow him to contest in the polls.
On April 5, Dhaka Divisional Commissioner Zillar Rahman dismissed Mintoo’s appeal against the returning officer’s decision cancelling his nomination due to procedural flaws.
The High Court rejected the writ petition filed by Mintoo challenging the cancellation of his nomination. Later, he filed the appeal to the Supreme Court.
Mintoo’s candidacy was cancelled by the Election Commission on April 1, the first day of scrutiny. His appeal against that decision was rejected on Saturday.
DNCC Returning Officer Shah Alam said: “Mintoo’s nomination has been cancelled as the person who nominated him and the one who seconded his nomination are not the voters of the DNCC.”
The certified copy of Mintoo’s nomination cancellation reads Abdur Razzaque, who supported Mintoo’s nomination, was a voter of Uttara 13 under Harirampur union, which is outside the DNCC area.
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.