A total of 154 candidates, including six mayoral candidates, have been declared valid by the Returning Officer in the Cumilla City Corporation (COCC) election.
Among them, there are 111 general ward councilors and 37 reserved women councilors. May 16 was the last day to submit nomination papers. A total of 154 candidates, including six mayoral candidates, submitted nomination papers on the same day. The rest were 120 general councilors and 38 reserved women councilors.
Nomination verification will be held at Cumilla District Shilpakala Academy from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm on Thursday.
The nominees for the post of mayor are: Bangladesh Awami League nominee Arfanul Haque Rifat, the recently departed mayor Monirul Haque Sakku (independent), Bangladesh Awami League rebel candidate Masud Parvez Khan Imran (independent), Nizam Uddin Kaiser (independent), Rashedul Islam of the Islamic Movement, and Kamrul Ahsan Babul of Citizens Committee (independent).
Earlier in the morning, Masood Parvez Khan Imran’s nomination paper was suspended due to informational reasons. As it was corrected later, his nomination paper was declared valid in the afternoon.
Returning Officer of COCC Election Shahedunnabi Chowdhury said that an appeal against the cancellation of nomination papers will be accepted on May 20, 21 and 22 from 9 am to 5 pm at the Cumilla Deputy Commissioner’s Office. The hearing will be held on May 23 at the Chattogram Divisional Commissioner’s Office. Candidates will be able to start their official campaign after the allotment of symbols on May 26. Voting will be held on June 15.
The total number of voters in 26 general and 9 reserved women’s wards of Cumilla City Corporation is 2,27,792. Among them, 1,11,600 are males and 1,16,191 females.