Shahadat Hossain, the BNP candidate in the Chattogram City Corporation (CCC) election held three years ago, has been declared the rightful mayor by a court. The court has also instructed the government to issue an official notification within the next 10 days.
The ruling came today from Khairul Amin, the judge of Chattogram’s Joint District Judge and Election Tribunal. Mofizul Haque Bhuiyan, Shahadat Hossain’s lawyer, told Prothom Alo that the court found evidence of vote manipulation in the 2021 city elections. As a result, the court declared Shahadat Hossain the winner and ordered the issuance of an official notice within 10 days.
After the fall of the Awami League government on August 5, following student and public protests, the former mayor, Md Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, stopped attending his office. On August 19, the government appointed Chattogram Divisional Commissioner Md Tofail Islam as the city’s administrator. Today’s court ruling came after this appointment.
Following the court’s decision, BNP leaders and supporters gathered outside the court to celebrate, chanting slogans and welcoming Shahadat Hossain as the new mayor.
In 2021, Shahadat Hossain filed a case against nine individuals, including Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, accusing them of election fraud. The case highlighted that the election results were not printed from the electronic voting machines (EVMs) as required but were instead written by hand, raising suspicions of manipulation. It was alleged that the ruling party’s candidate was declared the winner despite low voter turnout at polling centers.
The CCC election took place on January 27, 2021. Awami League’s candidate Rezaul Karim Chowdhury was declared the winner with 369,248 votes, while Shahadat Hossain received 52,489 votes. However, the court has now overturned this result, citing irregularities.
After the ruling, Shahadat Hossain told journalists that the people of Chattogram and the entire country are happy with this decision. He said, “This victory is for the people who couldn’t vote under the oppressive rule of the Awami League.”
Source: Prothom Alo
