The Dhaka Divisional Commissioner, the Appellate Authority, on Sunday upheld the Election Commission’s decision that declared invalid the nomination paper of mayoral hopeful BNP leader Abdul Awal Mintoo in Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) polls.

Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) general secretary Mahbub Uddin Khokan said this after a hearing at Dhaka Divisional Commissioner Zillar Rahman’s Segunbagicha office in the afternoon.

He also said they will move to the higher court against the Divisional Commissioner’s decision.

BNP standing committee members Barrister Moudud Ahmed, Barrister Jamiruddin Sircar, former SCBA president Advocate Joynul Abedin and Mahbub Uddin Khokan among the lawyers joined the hearing on Mintoo’s behalf.

Mintoo’s son Tafsir Awal represented his father in the hearing.

Earlier on Thursday, Mintoo appealed to the divisional commissioner seeking validity of his nomination allowing him to correct their mistakes for contesting the Dhaka North City Corporation polls slated for April 28.

Mintoo’s lawyer Ehsanur Rahman made the appeal to the Appeal Authority.

On Wednesday, the returning officer of the DNCC election rejected two mayoral nomination papers, including that of Mintoo, during scrutiny.

DNCC returning officer Shah Alam rejected the nomination paper of Mintoo for procedural flaws as the person who supported his nomination is not a voter of the DNCC.

Abdur Razzak, the seconder of Mintoo, is a voter of Uttara sector-13 under Harirampur Union, which is not under the DNCC area.

As per the clause 12 (1) of the City Corporation Rules 2010, proposer and seconder must be voters of the respective city corporation area. Hence, the returning officer declared the nomination paper of Mintoo invalid according to the clause 14 (3) of the rules.

As per the law, the candidates can challenge the decision of cancellation of the nominations with the Appellate Authority of the Dhaka Divisional Commissioner within three days.