The High Court yesterday cancelled the parliamentary membership of Abul Kashem, a Jatiya Party lawmaker because he was identified as a loan defaulter. According to the Representative of People Order (RPO), a defaulter cannot partake in the national elections and therefore, the Court stated his election candidacy illegal.
Abul Kashem defaulted a loan of Tk 15.44 crore from the Sonali bank.
As a result, The court aimed at the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) to declare BNP candidate Major General (retd) Mahmudul Hasan elected for the constituency as he won the second highest number of votes from this constituency in December 29, 2008 parliamentary elections.
The CEC has to state Mahmudul as the elected person of the constituency within one week of receiving the copy of the verdict.
The High Court bench of Justice Md Emdadul Huq gave the verdict after an election petition presented by Mahmudul which questioning the Election Commission's decision as to the validity of Kashem’s candidacy.
After hearing the petition, the High Court delivered the verdict yesterday.