Election result declared null and void

19 August 2009, 17:00 PM

Our Correspondent, Satkhira

An election tribunal on Tuesday declared null and void the nomination of the upazila vice-chairman candidate and annulled the election result as he was a bank defaulter. The judge of the election tribunal also asked the Election Commission to cancel the result of the winning candidate and hold fresh election as per law. Complainant S M Ataul Haque was defeated to the winning vice-chairman candidate Mohsin-Ul-Mulk in the January 22 election. The complainant alleged that Mohsin submitted his nomination paper to the assistant returning officer (ARO) while he had a default loan of Tk 3, 63,000 with the Agrani Bank Shyamnagar branch. ARO cancelled his nomination paper on December 17 during scrutiny but Mohsin submitted a prayer to the Returning Officer (RO) challenging the ARO's action, he said. The RO accepted Mohsin's nomination paper on the plea that the candidate paid the defaulting loan after submission of the nomination paper. After examining the witnesses and relevant documents, the election tribunal delivered the judgment.