Nominations of Sadiq Abdullah, AL's Shammi, Shamim scrapped by EC over 'dual citizenship'

The Election Commission has barred Serniabat Sadiq Abdullah, Shammi Ahmed, and Shamim Haque from participating in the upcoming general election as they allegedly hold dual citizenship.

The trio's appeals to win back their right to stand in the upcoming general election were turned down after a review by the regulator on Friday.

Although they are all affiliated with the Awami League, former Barishal city mayor Sadiq Abdullah was planning to run for the Barishal-5 constituency as an independent after failing to get the ruling party's ticket.

Shammi Ahmed and Shamim Haque, contesting in Barishal-4 and Faridpur-3 respectively, secured nominations from the Awami League.

State Minister for Water Resources Zahid Faruk filed an application to annul Sadiq Abdullah's nomination reports bdnews24.com.

However, Barishal Awami League leader Anwar Hossain refuted allegations about Sadiq Abdullah's dual citizenship.

"American citizens must renew their status every six months. He has not been to the US for the last five years, and his citizenship has been revoked. We will file a writ petition in the High Court over the matter," he said.

Shammi's eligibility was called into question by independent Pankaj Debnath, her rival in Barishal-4, with each aspirant contesting the candidacy of the other. Pankaj survived the challenge against his candidacy, but Shammi has been disqualified due to dual citizenship.

Pankaj applied for Shammi's candidacy to be scrapped on the basis that she failed to disclose her Australian citizenship in her nomination filing.

Meanwhile, independent candidate AK Azad appealed to nullify Shamim's candidacy for the Faridpur-3 seat, claiming that the Awami League candidate is also a citizen of the Netherlands. The EC upheld the appeal and disqualified Shamim.