CEC thinks Khaleda can't contest polls now

Chief election commissioner KM Nurul Huda. File photo
Chief election commissioner KM Nurul Huda. File photo

Chief election commissioner (CEC) AKM Nurul Huda on Sunday said BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, who was convicted in a graft case, is not eligible to contest the next general elections in the current perspective.

"If Khaleda Zia lodges an appeal with the Supreme Court against the lower court verdict and the court permits her to contest the election, then she will be able to take part in the polls," he told newsmen after paying a courtesy call on Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain at his SC office in Dhaka in the afternoon.

The CEC said the election commission expects that BNP would be able to take part in the election, but if the party does not do so, the commission will have nothing to do.

Earlier, the Supreme Court (SC) registrar general (in-charge) Md Zakir Hossain welcomed the CEC before he met the chief justice.

On 8 February, a Dhaka court sentenced Khaleda Zia to five-year imprisonment and 10-year imprisonment to five other accused including her "fugitive" elder son and BNP's senior vice chairman Tarique Rahman in Zia Orphanage Trust graft case.