Court declares BNP leader Shahadat Hossain Chattogram mayor

A court in Chattogram has declared BNP leader Shahadat Hossain as the winner of the Chattogram City Corporation (CCC) mayoral election held three years ago and ordered the government to issue a gazette on the matter in next 10 days.

Chattogram first joint district judge and election tribunal judge Khairul Amin passed the verdict on Tuesday.

Defendant lawyer Mofizul Haque Bhuyian told Prothom Alo the court found evidence of rigging in the election to Chattogram City Corporation in 2021.

For this reason, the court declared Shahadat Hossain the mayor of the city corporation and also ordered to issue a gazette in next 10 days.

Then city mayor Md Rezaul Karim Chowdhury did not come to the office after the fall of the Awami Legaue government amid the student-people's uprising on 5 August. The interim government removed the mayor on 19 August and appointed Chattogram divisional commissioner Md Tofael Hossain as administrator. Meantime, the new order from the court came on Tuesday.

Following the court verdict, leaders and activists gathered at the court premises and chanted slogans to welcome Shahadat Hossain as the mayor.

BNP city unit convenor and mayoral candidate Shahadat Hossain filed a case at the election tribunal against nine people on 24 February 2021.

The nine defendants were Awami League mayoral candidate M Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, chief election commissioner, election commission secretary, Chattogram regional election officer, city election returning officer, mayoral candidate Abul Mansoor, MA Matin, Khokon Chowdhury, Waheed Murad and Jannatul Islam.

According to the case statement, poll results or EVM copy must be printed out, but it was not followed as results were hand-written, thus, election was rigged. The defendants in collusion defeated the BNP mayoral candidate.

Voters were not present at the polling stations on the voting day, yet the Awami League candidate was shown victorious with huge votes.

Voting to the Chattogram City Corporation was held on 27 January 2021. Awami League candidate M Rezaul Karim Chowdhury was elected mayor bagging 369,248 votes while his rival candidate Shahadat got 52,489 votes in the polls.

There were 1,938,706 voters in the Chattogram City Corporation and voter turnout was 22.52 per cent only. Attacks, firings and casualties and power showdown took place on the voting day, damaging the vote festival. After the voting, the BNP said no voting, in fact, took place in the Chattogram city.

After the court verdict, Shahadat Hossain told the journalists at the court premises this verdict has made the 180 million of people including Chattogram happy, and the verdict is also a victory for those who could not vote during the Awami League misrule.