AL candidate Shamim Haque's candidacy cancelled, independent candidate AK Azad stays
The election commission has cancelled the candidacy of Awami League Faridpur-3 candidate Shamim Haque. The commission passed this decision Friday morning after the hearing at the Nirbachan Bhaban in Agargaon of the capital.
The independent candidate of that seat, AK Azad, had submitted an appeal calling for Shamim Haque's candidacy to be cancelled. His appeal was accepted and Shamim Haque's candidacy cancelled.
District Awami League's office secretary Syed Ali Ashraf said that they were not satisfied with the election commission's decision and were preparing to appeal to the Supreme Court about the matter.
In the meantime, the election commission has rejected Shamim Haque's appeal to cancel the candidature of AK Azad. As a result, AK Azad's candidacy remains upheld for this seat.
While Shamim Haque claims to have given up his Dutch citizenship, questions remain regarding the veracity of the claim. There are even allegations of forgery in the papers he submitted to the election commission to support his claim of giving up citizenship to the Netherlands.
According to the constitution, if any individual takes on the citizenship of a foreign country, he or she is disqualified to take part in the Jatiya Sangsad (national parliament) election. The independent candidate of that constituency, AK Azad, appealed to the election commission against Shamim Haque's candidacy as he allegedly was a Ditch citizen. The hearing was held in part on Wednesday. The election came up with its decision today, Friday.
Attempts were made twice to contact Shamim Haque over mobile phone regarding the matter, but he did not respond to the calls.
When asked about the matter, district Awami League's office secretary Syed Ali Ashraf said that they were not satisfied with the election commission's decision and were preparing to appeal to the Supreme Court about the matter.