PIROJPUR — A 74-year-old independent candidate failed to submit his nomination papers in the Pirojpur-3 (Mathbaria) constituency after arriving 12 minutes past the deadline. Sudhir Ranjan Biswas had been seeking to file for the seventh time.
The incident took place at the office of the upazila returning officer on Monday, Dec. 29.
Biswas, a father of three sons and a daughter, is a resident of Gilabad village in the Daudkhali union of the upazila. He had forfeited his deposit in his previous six elections but still went to file his papers Monday.
Biswas has never received any votes apart from his own, according to local reports.
Biswas said his wife, Anjali Rani Biswas, died about 40 years ago after losing a union council member election. Since then, he has contested polls in her memory, he said.
Describing himself as a village physician, he said: “I came to file my nomination this year with money saved from writing prescriptions for patients and from selling some belongings, but when I arrived a few minutes after the deadline they would not accept my papers. I am old, so it took me a little longer to get the papers ready.”
Upazila Election Officer Basudeb Sarkar said Biswas is a resident of Daudkhali union and has the right to contest the election. He could not submit his papers because he arrived after the deadline, Sarkar said.
Mathbaria Upazila Nirbahi Officer and Assistant Returning Officer Aklima Akhter said the Election Commission’s deadline was 5 p.m., and Biswas arrived with his papers 12 minutes later, making submission impossible.
Seven candidates filed nomination papers in the Pirojpur-3 constituency. They are Ruhul Amin Dulal of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP); Abdul Jalil Sharif of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami; Shamim Hamidi of the National Citizen Party (NCP); Rustam Ali Faraji of Islami Andolan Bangladesh; Masrekul Azam Rabi of the Jatiya Party; Karim Sikder of the Jatiyo Samajtantrik Dal (JaSaD); and independent candidate Touhidur Islam.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report