A petition has been filed with the High Court seeking to declare the parliamentary seat of Abdul Hannan Masud, elected from Noakhali-6 in the 13th national parliamentary election, vacant over allegations of irregularities involving his election affidavit.
The petition was filed by Nazmul Hossain, a resident of Hatiya in Noakhali, alleging that Masud submitted an affidavit without being properly aware of its contents. The matter was confirmed to BanglaNews on Wednesday, 19 August, by lawyer ABM Ibrahim Khalil, who is representing the petitioner.
Nazmul Hossain, son of Mosharraf Hossain of Uttar Bejgulya in Tamruddin area of Hatiya, is the petitioner in the case. The application has been listed before a High Court bench comprising Justice Raziq-Al-Jalil and Justice Debashish Roy Chowdhury.
According to Ibrahim Khalil, the allegation centres on Masud’s signature and submission of the affidavit. The lawyer claimed that Masud himself had acknowledged signing and submitting the affidavit without being aware of its contents.
The petitioner has therefore asked the High Court to examine whether the alleged irregularity amounts to affidavit fraud and whether it provides grounds for declaring the Noakhali-6 parliamentary seat vacant.
Speaking about the case, Ibrahim Khalil described the alleged conduct as fraudulent and said they had approached the High Court seeking legal intervention. The petition specifically raises the question of why the seat should not be declared vacant because of the alleged irregularities in the affidavit.
The allegations, however, remain subject to judicial scrutiny. Filing a writ petition does not by itself establish that the allegations are proven, and any legal consequence for the elected lawmaker will depend on the proceedings and findings of the court.
The dispute comes months after the 13th national parliamentary election, which was held on 12 February. Hannan Masud, the National Citizen Party’s nominated candidate for Noakhali-6, won the election under the Shapla Kali symbol with 91,899 votes.
His closest rival was BNP candidate Mohammad Mahbuber Rahman, who contested under the Sheaf of Paddy symbol and secured 64,021 votes. Masud therefore won the seat by a margin of 27,878 votes.
Election affidavits are an important part of the electoral process because they provide information submitted by candidates for public and legal scrutiny. Any allegation concerning the accuracy, authenticity or manner in which such documents were prepared and submitted can therefore become a matter of legal consideration.
The High Court’s next steps will determine how the petition proceeds and whether the respondents will be required to respond to the allegations. Until the court reaches a decision, the claims made in the petition should be treated as allegations rather than established facts.
