Bangladesh Bar Council goes to election Wednesday 

The supervisory body of lawyers, Bangladesh Bar Council, is going to election three months behind schedule, on Wednesday, because of complications over voter list.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 25 August 2015, 07:25 PM
Updated : 25 August 2015, 08:21 PM

As many as 43,302 lawyers will cast their votes at 147 booths of 77 centres countrywide from 10am to 5pm.
 
Like the previous elections, the latest ballot pits ruling Awami League-backed practitioners against pro-BNP counsels.
 
The ruling party-supported lawyers are trying to wrest control from their rivals.
 

(From left) Abdul Baset Majumder and M Amir-Ul Islam

The council’s Assistant Director (Administration) Nazmul Ahsan told bdnews24.com on Tuesday they were ready for the vote.
He said the process was underway to make a supplementary voter list of those who were not on the list published earlier but applied for inclusion.
Lawyers campaigned at the Supreme Court Bar Council on Tuesday.
The Bangladesh Bar Council elections are held every three years. The lawyers elect 14 members of the council – seven for the posts of general members and as many for the region-based posts.
These 14 members elect the vice-chairman. The attorney general is given the post of chairman as per rules.
The contenders
This year, 61 are contesting for the 14 posts. Of them, 32 are fighting for the general members’ posts and 29 for the region-based members’ posts.
From the pro-BNP Jatyiatabadi Ainjibi Oikya Panel, incumbent Vice-Chairman Khandker Mahbub Hossain, Executive Committee Chairman AJ Mohammad Ali, Enrolment Committee Chairman AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon, Finance Committee Chairman Sanaullah Mian, and Badruddoza Badal, Md Borhan Uddin, and Mohsin Mia are contesting for the general members' posts.

(From left) Khandker Mahbub Hossain and AJ Mohammad Ali

The candidates from the panel for the posts of the members from local bar councils are Golam Mostafa Khan, Mohammad Abdul Baki Mia, Kabir Chowdhury, Kaimul Haque, Abdul Malek, Md Ishaq and AKM Hafizur Rahman.
The pro-AL Sammilito Ainjibi Samannoy Parishad’s contenders for the general members’ posts are M Amir-Ul Islam, Abdul Baset Majumder, Rokan Uddin Mahmud, Abdul Matin Khosru, Parimal Chandra Guha, ZI Khan Panna and SM Rezaul Karim.
The candidates of the panel from the local bar councils are Qazi Nazibullah Hiru, HR Zahid Anwar, Ibrahim Hossain Chowdhury, Sarwar Ahmed Chowdhury Abdal, Parvez alam Khan, Md Yahia and Md Rezaul Karim.
Besides the panels of pro-BNP and pro-AL lawyers, members of the Ainjibi Oikya Front and Ainjibi Oikya Parishad panels are also fighting in the polls.
Oikya Front’s candidates are Subrata Chowdhury, Shah Md Khosruzzaman, AKM Zoglul Haider Afrik, Sarwar-e-Dwin, Md Helal Uddin, Abdul Momen Chowdhury and Md Shamsul Haque.
The contestants from Oikya Parishad are Md Mahbub Ali Bhuyian, Md Yunus Ali Akand, Md Abul Kalam Azad, Md Abul Hossain, Md Delwar Hossain Mollick, Md Shawkat Hayat, and Sultan A Sabur Chowdhury.
Complications in voter list
The elections were originally scheduled for May 20. 
The polls plan was announced in Mar 25 and the voter list with 48,465 published on Apr 9.

(From left) Abdul Baset Majumder and M Amir-Ul Islam

Five elected members of the council and another 101 lawyers wrote to the chairman and the secretary, claiming the voters’ list was ‘vague’ and many names were repeated.
Following the objections, a Bar Council meeting on May 12 set May 27 for holding the election.
Hearing a writ petition, the High Court stayed the polls on May 21 and the council moved the Appellate Division seeking a freeze on the execution of the High Court ruling.
The Appellate Division on May 28 set Aug 13 for the polls and ordered publication of the voter list a month before the voting.
On July 9, the court shifted the polls day to Aug 26 following a plea by the attorney general seeking more time to publish the voter list.