The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Tuesday finally declared the candidature of Bangladesh Nationalist Party MP-elect Aslam Chowdhury from Chattogram-4 illegal, holding that he was a loan defaulter when he submitted his nomination paper for the parliamentary election.

A five-member Appellate Division bench, headed by chief justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury, delivered the verdict after allowing an appeal filed by main opposition in parliament Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami candidate Md Anwar Siddique against his rival candidate.

The apex court overturned a High Court judgement that had upheld the Election Commission’s decision to accept Aslam Chowdhury’s nomination despite allegations that he was a loan defaulter at the time of submission of the nomination paper.

Earlier, the Appellate Division had directed the Election Commission to withhold the publication of the election result for the Chattogram-4 constituency in the February 12 national election, in which Aslam Chowdhury later defeated the Jamaat-backed candidate.

Senior lawyer Kamal ul Alam and advocate Mohammad Shishir Manir appeared for Jamaat candidate while senior lawyers Miftah Uddin Choudhury, AM Mahbubuddin Khokon, Nihad Kabir, Muhammed Mustafizur Rahman Khan and advocate Anisul Hassan represented BNP candidate.