Sarwar Alamgir to take oath at 7pm today

Newly elected Member of Parliament from the Chattogram-2 constituency, Sarwar Alamgir, will take his oath of office at 7pm on Thursday (July 9).

Md. Rashed Mizan, Assistant Director of the Public Relations Branch of the Bangladesh National Parliament Secretariat, confirmed the information.

He stated that the newly elected MP of the 13th National Parliament, Sarwar Alamgir (Chattogram-2), will be sworn in at 7pm on Thursday. Speaker of the National Parliament, Hafiz Uddin Ahmad, will administer the oath to him.

This oath-taking ceremony comes after prolonged legal complexities. Sarwar Alamgir contested and won the 13th National Parliament election held on February 12 from the Chattogram-2 (Fatikchhari) constituency as a BNP candidate. However, following an appeal filed by his rival Jamaat candidate, Md. Nurul Amin, over loan default allegations, the Election Commission had cancelled his candidacy on January 18.

Sarwar Alamgir filed a writ petition in the High Court against this decision. On January 27, the High Court stayed the Election Commission's order, issued a rule, and allowed him to participate in the election. However, Nurul Amin filed a leave-to-appeal with the Appellate Division against this order. Consequently, while the Appellate Division upheld his participation in the election, it directed to stay the publication of the election results until the final disposal of the rule.

Amid this legal uncertainty, Sarwar Alamgir won the February 12 election, but due to the court's directive, his official results were withheld, and his swearing-in remained stalled for a long time. Later, on June 16, the Appellate Division disposed of the appeal and directed the High Court to settle the rule swiftly. Following that timeline, after hearings concluded on July 2, today was fixed for the verdict.

Finally, on Thursday, a High Court bench comprising Justice Fahmida Quader and Justice Md. Asif Hasan declared Sarwar Alamgir's candidacy valid, clearing all legal obstacles for his swearing-in as a Member of Parliament.

Senior Advocate Ahsanul Karim and Barrister A M Mahbub Uddin Khokan conducted the hearing in court on behalf of Sarwar Alamgir, while Senior Advocate Shishir Monir and Advocate Azim Uddin Patwary represented the rival candidate, Nurul Amin.