Court Declares Dr. Shahadat Mayor After Nullifying CCC Polls

The court has declared Dr. Shahadat Hossain, the BNP mayoral candidate, as the mayor by nullifying the Chattogram City Corporation (CCC) elections. Additionally, the court has instructed that a gazette be published within the next 10 days.

The ruling was delivered today, Tuesday (October 1), at 12 PM by Mohammad Khairul Ameen, the first joint district judge and election tribunal judge in Chattogram.

Advocate Arshad Hossain Asad, representing the plaintiff, stated that the court has ruled in favor of Dr. Shahadat Hossain, declaring him the mayor after he filed a case seeking to annul the CCC elections. The court has also mandated the publication of the gazette within 10 days.

Previously, on February 24, 2021, Dr. Shahadat Hossain filed a case against nine individuals, including the Election Commissioner, alleging electoral fraud and seeking to annul the results of the CCC elections. The respondents included former mayor of CCC, M. Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, regional election officer Md. Hasanuzzaman, the Secretary of the Election Commission, the Chief Election Commissioner, Abul Monzur, M. A. Mottin, Khokon Chowdhury, Muhammad Wahid Murad, and Md. Jannatul Islam. No lawyer was present for the respondents in court.

The case details reveal that after receiving the boat symbol, CCC officials began contacting Rezaul Karim, indicating that the election was merely a formality. As a result, the actual vote counts have not yet been disclosed. No print copies from the EVMs were provided from any polling station. It was noted that only 4 to 6 percent of votes were cast by noon on the election day, yet the official count claimed 22 percent voter turnout.

Election sources indicate that in the CCC elections held on January 27, 2021, the boat candidate Rezaul Karim Chowdhury won with 369,248 votes. His closest competitor, BNP's Shahadat Hossain, who ran with the paddy sheaf symbol, received 52,489 votes.