Popular rock musician Shafin Ahmed got his candidacy back for the by-polls to Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC). Shafin appealed to retrieve his candidacy on Tuesday.
Talking about his candidacy, Shafin told the Dhaka Tribune: “The whole thing was very mysterious, because before submitting my nomination I had checked my own CIB, and it was all cleared, I didn’t see anything on my CIB.”
“Therefore, I submitted the nominations, but on the day of finalizing the nominations I was very surprised to see something like this come up about one particular bank and given to the election commission.”
“I was there while the nominations were being sorted, and heard that the EC received a letter like that.”
“But I told them that I was going to appeal.”
“Time for the appeal was till the February, 5 which was Tuesday, so I had organized all the necessary papers to appeal in such short time.”
“So after hearing my case, the commissioner decided that my candidacy should be valid,” he added.
During the hearing, officials from the election commission and the bank were present at the Dhaka Divisional Commissioner Office.
“It is absolutely encouraging news for me as I can focus and get ready for the campaign,” said Shafin in excitement.
“As per election commission instructions, we can officially start the campaigns from February, 10.”
Returning Officer, Md Abul Kasem told the Dhaka Tribune that he heard that Shafin's appeal was accepted by the Dhaka Divisional Commissioner's office. But they are yet to get any confirmation.
The Election Commission on Saturday rejected the nomination paper of the Jatiya Party mayoral aspirant, Shafin Ahmed, and accepted that of five others, including Atiqul Islam of the Awami League, for the by-polls to the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC).
During the scrutiny, DNCC by-polls Returning Officer, Md Abul Kashem, cancelled Shafin's nomination paper for loan default.
Jatiya Party on Wednesday had picked popular singer Shafin to contest the by-election.
