The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) on Tuesday expelled Comilla-4 (Debidwar) candidate Manzurul Ahsan Munshi from all party positions, including genera membership, over a video in which he allegedly threatened voters.
The announcement came in a press release signed by BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi at 9:15pm. The party cited statements and activities “against party policy, ideals, and organization” as reasons for Munshi’s expulsion.
Earlier Tuesday, a video of Munshi circulated on social media in which he said: “If BNP is in power, and if you vote for another party, I will not spare any of you. If necessary, I will burn down houses and destroy everything.”
Munshi, a four-time former MP of Debidwar, had initially received the BNP nomination for the 13th National Parliamentary Election. His nomination papers were declared valid by the Returning Officer on January 2. However, Hasnat Abdullah, the candidate of the 11-party alliance, filed an affidavit accusing Munshi of concealing financial liabilities. Munshi, reportedly a bank loan defaulter, had obtained a three-month stay from the High Court to contest the election but did not mention this in the affidavit.
After nearly an hour of arguments, the returning officer upheld Munshi’s nomination. Hasnat Abdullah then appealed to the Election Commission, which on January 17 declared Munshi’s nomination invalid. Munshi challenged the EC’s decision in the High Court on January 19, but the court dismissed his petition on January 21. He later filed a leave-to-appeal petition in the Appellate Division, which was ultimately rejected after hearings on January 30.
Since no other BNP leader received a nomination for Comilla-4, the party instructed Munshi to work in favor of alliance partner Gana Adhikar Parishad’s candidate, Jasim Uddin.
