‘Khaleda Zia can join polls if court allows’

Staff Correspondent: “BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia can participate in the upcoming general elections despite jail sentence. But for this, she has to file an appeal petition to the court seeking a stay order on the sentence and that appeal petition will have to be granted by the court,” Election Commissioner (EC) Md Rafiqul Islam said.

The election commissioner made the comment while responding to a query of journalists at the Nirbachan Bhaban in the capital's Agargaon on Monday.

Rafiqul Islam said, “We do not work on any individual. It is evident in the law that if an individual is convicted in a case and jailed for more than two years, he or she cannot contest polls until a specific time is passed.”

“We do not know whether Khaleda Zia will contest polls or not. She can participate in the upcoming general elections despite jail sentence. But for this, she has to file an appeal petition to the court seeking a stay order on the sentence and that appeal petition will have to be granted by the court. Otherwise, she cannot contest polls," he said.

Today (October 29), BNP Chairperson and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and three others have been jailed for seven years in the Zia Charitable Trust corruption case.

Earlier on February 8 last, she was jailed for five years in Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case.


risingbd/Dhaka/Oct 29, 2018/Hasibul/AI