Bangladesh's election commission Saturday Dec 08,2018 rejected jailed former prime minister Khaleda Zia's plea challenging the cancellation of her nomination, virtually ending her hopes of contesting the upcoming general election.
"The commission rejected her petition by 4-1 votes...the CEC (chief election commissioner) and three other commissioners were on one side while one of the commissioners was in favour of her candidature," an EC spokesman said.
The Bangladesh High Court had earlier issued an order disqualifying 73-year-old Zia, now serving a 10-year prison term in two corruption cases, from contesting the December 30 polls saying people jailed for more than two years with their appeals pending in court cannot fight elections.
The opposition BNP leader has been in prison since February when a lower court sentenced her to a five-year term in the first of the two graft cases.
Zia had filed nomination papers from three constituencies, two in northwestern Bogra and one in southeastern Feni.
The EC's decision comes a week after returning officers scrapped nomination papers of Zia and several other high-profile politicians, mostly opposition candidates, as they were convicted by courts on graft and other charges, and due to defaulting bank loans or technical flaws in their nomination papers.
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