DHAKA: The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday upheld cancellation of Kader Siddique’s candidacy for Tangail-4 (Kalihati) constituency by-election.

The full-member Appellate Division bench led by Chief Justice S K Sinha rejected his appeal against a High Court verdict that had upheld Election Commission’s decision to cancel his candidacy.

Election Commission (EC) lawyer Dr Muhammad Yasin Khan said that there is no more bar now to hold the by-election in Tangail-4 (Kalihati) constituency.

The Tangail-4 constituency has been vacant since September 1 of 2015 as its previous MP Latif Siddique was expelled from the cabinet and the parliament for making offensive comments on hajj.

Later, the EC fixed November 10, 2015 as the date for by-polls in that constituency.

Along with other candidates, Kader Siddique and his wife Nasrin Siddique also submitted nomination papers to participate in the polls.

But on October 13, Returning Officer M Alimuzzaman cancelled the nomination papers of four candidates including Abdul Kader Siddique and his wife Nasrin Kader Siddique.

Alimuzzaman said their nomination papers were cancelled as Credit Information Bureau (CIB) of the central bank informed them that they (Kader and Nasrin) have a loan worth Tk 10.88-crore in Agrani Bank Ltd in the name of their organisation Sonar Bangla Engineering.

Later on October 16, on behalf of Kader Siddique, Krishak Sramik Janata League joint general secretary Iqbal Siddique filed the appeal to EC against the decision seeking to regain his candidacy.

On October 18, 2015, five-member EC led by chief election commissioner (CEC) rejected his appeal.

Later, Kader Siddique filed a writ petition with the HC challenging the legality of EC’s cancellation order but the HC on February 4, 2016 upheld the EC’s verdict.

Then, the veteran politician filed a Leave to Appeal plea that the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court granted on March 15 of 2016.

BDST: 1244/1416 HRS, JAN 18, 2017
SR/SMS