The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Tuesday cancelled the candidacy of BNP's Aslam Chowdhury, who was unofficially declared the winner in Chattogram-4 during the 13th national election, citing his defaulted loans.
A bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury, delivered the verdict.
Lawyers Miftah Uddin Chowdhury and AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon represented Aslam at the court hearing.
Aslam Chowdhury's nomination papers had been declared valid by the Election Commission on January 18.
Earlier, on June 20, the Appellate Division appointed two senior lawyers M Kamrul Haque Siddique and Probir Neogi as amicus curiae (friends of the court) to assist the court during the hearing over Aslam's candidature.
The legal dispute began after the Returning Officer declared Aslam's nomination paper valid on January 3.
Subsequently, Jamaat-e-Islami candidate Anwar Siddiqui and Bank Asia PLC challenged the decision before the Election Commission, alleging that Aslam was a loan defaulter.
Aslam contested the February 12 parliamentary election as the BNP candidate from Chattogram-4 and was unofficially declared elected. However, publication of the official result was suspended following an earlier order of the Appellate Division.
On February 3, the Appellate Division granted leave to appeal against the High Court verdict following a petition filed by Jamaat candidate Anwar Siddiqui. The court ordered that if Aslam won the election, publication of the result would remain suspended until the appeal was finally disposed of.
Following the leave order, separate appeals were filed on March 31. The Chamber Judge's Court later referred the matter to the regular Appellate Division bench for hearing on April 28, and the case subsequently appeared on the court's cause list several times before the final hearing.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Barrister Md Ruhul Quddus Kajal said that if a fresh election is held in the Chattogram-4 constituency, there would be no legal bar to Aslam Chowdhury contesting the polls.
