Upazila polls: EC summons State Minister Palak’s brother-in-law over abduction, beating of rival candidate
The commission asked Lutfol Habib to appear at the EC Secretariat on Monday (22 April)
The Election Commission on Thursday (18 April) summoned Lutfol Habib, a chairman aspirant for Singra upazila polls in Natore, for "abducting and torturing" rival candidate upazila Delwar Hossain.
Habib is the brother-in-law of the State Minister for Information and Technology and Natore-3 constituency MP Zunaid Ahmed Palak.
The commission has served a show-cause notice to Lutfol Habib asking him to appear at the EC Secretariat on Monday (22 April) and to explain why his candidature should not be cancelled.
The commission said it summoned Lutful, who is also the joint general secretary of Singra upazila Awami League, after it found the allegations of kidnapping and torturing Delwar to be true.
According to local media reports, a group of people abducted Singra upazila parishad chairman candidate Delwar Hossain from Natore District Election Office by a microbus on Monday (15 April). He was left in front of his house after several hours. Police have already arrested two persons for physically assaulting the candidate.
According to EC Secretary Jahangir Alam, both Delwar and Lutful's nomination papers were found valid last Tuesday. The EC then decided to take action against those involved in the incident.
According to the show-cause notice, the EC has received reports on the matter from intelligence agencies and local administration.
The letter also states that the matter has been published both in national dailies and on social media.