The Election Commission has issued a gazette notification declaring BNP leader Ishraque Hossain the mayor of the Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC).

Confirming the matter on Sunday night, EC Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed said the gazette was issued following legal advice from the law ministry and in compliance with a court order.

On 22 April, the commission sought legal opinion from the ministry regarding the issuance of a gazette notification in Ishraque’s name.

After getting a positive response, Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin sat with other election commissioners and officials and the decision was made to issue the gazette tonight.

Following the issuance, a copy of the gazette will be forwarded to the Local Government Division to initiate the necessary steps for arranging the mayor’s oath-taking ceremony.

The DSCC election was held on 1 February 2020. As per the official result, Awami League candidate Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh defeated his nearest rival Ishraque Hossain by a margin of nearly two lakh votes.

On March 27 this year, an Election Tribunal of Dhaka overturned the result and declared Ishraque, son of the last mayor of undivided Dhaka Sadeque Hossain Khoka, the mayor.

Nearly a month after the verdict, the commission sought the law ministry's opinion on whether a gazette could be issued to formalise Ishraque's position.

On 24 April, Ishraque met CEC Nasir Uddin to get an update on the publication of the gazette notification.