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DCC Mayoral Candidates: Amusing affidavits

A Mercedes-Benz car, a Toyota Prado and a Mitsubishi Pajero are worth only Tk 17 lakh, believe it or not.
This is exactly what businessman Mohammad Saifuddin, Jatiya Party candidate for Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) mayoral polls, mentioned in his affidavit submitted to the Election Commission on Tuesday.
His wife owns a BMW car and a Nissan sedan but their prices were not given.
On the other hand, businessman Atiqul Islam, Awami League mayoral candidate for Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC), has no car, shows his affidavit.
A total of 14 mayoral candidates -- 7 each in the DNCC and the DSCC -- are contesting the January 30 elections.
Tabith Awal, BNP candidate for the DNCC and son of businessman Abdul Awal Mintoo, has a Lexus car worth Tk 7.60 lakh.
AL mayoral candidate for the DSCC Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh has three cars worth Tk 1.66 crore and his wife one with a price tag of Tk 1.63 crore.
He, however, didn’t mention the brands or models of the cars.
His main rival BNP candidate Ishraque Hossain, however, doesn’t have any car. 
JP mayoral candidate for the DNCC Kamrul Islam, a former army brigadier, owns vehicles worth Tk 1.12 crore.
Kamrul, also president of Jatri Odhikar Sangrakkhan Parishad, didn’t mention the number or type of the vehicles.
The affidavits provided by the candidates contain their criminal and financial records as well as information on income and details of moveable and immovable assets.
The four main candidates from the AL and the BNP are highly educated. Taposh is a barrister, and Atiqul is a BCom graduate. Tabith holds a MSc degree in Information System Technology and Ishraque a MSc degree in engineering.
 Taposh has the highest annual income of Tk 9.81 crore followed by Tabith’s Tk 4.12 crore.
The annual income of Saifuddin is Tk 1.36 crore and that of Atiqul is Tk 1.29 crore.
Ishraque’s annual income is Tk 91.58 lakh. His source of income is house rent, salary, business and investment in the stock market.
Kamrul has an annual income of Tk 20.94 lakh.
In terms of wealth, BNP’s Tabith surpasses all others. He and his wife have moveable properties worth TK 68.68 crore, more than eight times that (Tk 7.85 crore) of his rival Atiqul and his wife.
Taposh and his wife have immovable properties worth Tk 20.92 crore, while that of Ishraque are worth Tk 4.98 crore. 
According to Atiqul’s affidavit, his business organisations owe Tk 591 crore to different banks while his rival Tabith’s business entities have loans of Tk 300 crore with various banks.
Ishraque has taken a loan of Tk 61 lakh from his mother while his rival AL candidate Taposh has liabilities of Tk 4.67 crore.
There is no case against Atiqul and Tabith. However, Ishraque is facing a graft case. Two cases against Taposh were disposed of several years ago. 
In his affidavit, businessperson Shahin Khan, Progressive Democratic Party candidate for DNCC, mentioned that he has moveable properties worth Tk 15.20 lakh. Those include a car with a price tag of Tk 8.50 lakh.
He, however, didn’t say anything about his annual income or immovable properties.
Like him, Journalist Md Akhtaruzzaman, Bangladesh Congress mayoral candidate for the DSCC, didn’t mention anything about his annual income or immovable properties.
National People’s Party mayoral candidate for the DSCC Bahrane Sultan Bahar showed that he has an annual income of Tk 1.50 lakh while Ganofront candidate Abdus Samad Sujan has an annual income of Tk 2.40 lakh.
Their annual income is non-taxable. According to the tax rules, any income below Tk 2.50 lakh a year remains out of the tax net.
All the mayoral candidates had to deposit Tk 1 lakh each with the EC.
The EC on December 22 announced the election schedule for the DNCC and the DSCC election.
The last date for submitting nomination papers was December 31.
The EC will scrutinise those today and the last date for withdrawal of candidacy is January 9.

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