The Appellate Division on Tuesday ruled that BNP candidates Sarwar Alamgir and Aslam Chowdhury may contest the upcoming elections from the Chittagong-2 and Chittagong-4 constituencies respectively.

However, the court ordered that the final publication of election results in both constituencies will remain suspended until the disposal of the ongoing appeals.

The Appellate Division, headed by the chief justice, passed the orders after granting leave to appeal against earlier High Court verdicts that declared the two BNP candidates’ nominations valid.

Advocate Ahsanul Karim, Barrister Ruhul Quddus Kajal, Advocate Mahbubur Rahman Khan and Barrister Kazi Akhter Hossain represented Sarwar Alamgir and Aslam Chowdhury before the court.

On the other side, advocates Mohammad Hossain Lipu and Azim Uddin Patwari appeared on behalf of the rival candidates.

Earlier, on January 27, the High Court declared the nomination of Sarwar Alamgir valid for the Chittagong-2 constituency. Separately, on February 1, the High Court began hearing a bank’s appeal challenging the Election Commission’s decision to accept Aslam Chowdhury’s nomination papers for Chittagong-4.

Despite the pending appeals, the Appellate Division ruled that there would be no legal bar to either candidate’s participation in the polls, while keeping the publication of results subject to the final outcome of the cases.