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BNP leader Ishraque Hossain on Thursday met Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin to know the update over the publication of the gazette notification declaring him as the mayor of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC).
He met the CEC two days after the Election Commission sent a letter to the Law Ministry seeking opinion over the issuance of mayoral gazette notification declaring Ishraque Hossain as DSCC mayor, UNB reports.
“The file reached the EC (following the election tribunal’s verdict) and now the gazette notification will be issued. It (file) has already been sent to the Law Ministry for opinion. Since I was the petitioner in the case, I came to know an update over it,” he told reporters after his meeting with the CEC at the latter’s office in the capital.
On March 27 last, an Election Tribunal of Dhaka overturned the 2020 DSCC election result that declared Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh winner and instead pronounced Ishraque Hossain as the rightful mayor.
The EC, on April 22, sought the Law Ministry’s opinions on issuance of the gazette notification in favour of Ishraque, son of the last undivided Dhaka mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka.
Asked how long he will be allowed to serve as mayor, Ishraque said once the gazette is published and subsequent formalities are completed, he’ll hold a meeting with our legal panel for clarity on the tenure.
He said all steps so far have fully followed the due legal procedures in line with the country’s existing laws and local government laws.
The DSCC election was held on February 1, 2020, where Ishraque lost to Taposh by some 188,000 votes.
According to the then results, Taposh assumed office on May 16, 2020. Since the first meeting of the elected city corporation body took place in June 2020, the DSCC’s five-year term is set to expire in June 2025.