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Wednesday, April 13, 2016, Chaitra 30, 1422 BS, Rajab 5, 1437 Hijri


Inu’s JaSoD gets 'torch'
Observer Online Desk
Published :Wednesday, 13 April, 2016,  Time : 9:42 PM  View Count : 0
The Election Commission has recognised the faction led by Hasanul Haq Inu and Shirin Akhter as mainstream JaSoD after several meetings with its leaders.

The faction led headed by Inu, who is also Information Minister, will now have the exclusive right to the party’s registration with the commission and polls symbol 'torch'.
 
The rebels, led by Sharif Nurul Ambia and Nazmul Haque Prodhan, will have to register with the EC and get a new symbol.
 
The electoral body will inform the party about the decision officially within Apr 17, Election Commissioner Abu Hafiz told bdnews24.com on Wednesday after confirming that the Inu-led faction had been handed the symbol. 
 
Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal or JaSoD, a left-wing party, suffered a split at its national council last month after a group broke away in protest against an attempt by its President Inu to install Akhter as general secretary.
 
The both JaSoD factions went to the EC with the claim of the polls logo as theirs as the six-phase election to the union councils started for the first time on party lines on Mar 22.
 
A week after hearing arguments from both factions, Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad sat with the four commissioners on Wednesday morning to finalise the decision on the issue.
 
“We are giving the decision on JaSoD. You will know it within a day or two,” CEC Ahmad told reporters in the afternoon.
 
Election Commissioner Zabed Ali said, “We, all four election commissioners, have given our opinions. A decision based on these (opinions) will be taken later.”
 
Later, Commissioner Hafiz said they had made the decision based on opinions of the majority of the four commissioners.

JaSoD, which has been split several times, had its Inu-led faction win the ‘torch’ symbol earlier. The other factions had to be satisfied with other logos.
 
An EC official, requesting anonymity, said Election Commissioners Md Shah Nawaz, Ali and Hafiz gave their verdict in favour of Inu.
 
The other commissioner, Abdul Mobarak, agreed with them, but expressed his concern over perplexities.
 
Rebel JaSoD leader Ambia had claimed four of the six MPs of the party were with his faction. They are Prodhan, Moin Uddin Khan Badal, AKM Rezaul Karim Tansen and Lutfa Taher.
 
Prodhan and Tansen were elected with the ‘torch’ symbol.
 
Lutfa is an MP from a seat reserved for women.
 
Inu and Akhter, the two other MPs from JaSoD, were elected alongside Badal with the ruling coalition partner Awami League’s ‘boat’ symbol.
 
Commissioner Mobarak supported Badal’s argument that the membership of Prodhan and Tansen in Parliament would be questioned if their faction lost the symbol.
 
Badal had also hinted at legal fight if the EC’s decision went against them.
 
Ambia said the rebel committee would sit to decide the next course of action.
 
A leader of Inu-led JaSoD, requesting anonymity, said, “The path for unity is open. Those who walked out of the council will be given honourable posts if they return.”

bdnews24.com/RI








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