High Court rejects appeals to restore Khaleda’s nominations for Dec 30 polls

The High Court has rejected three petitions to restore Khaleda Zia’s nominations for three parliamentary races in the Dec 30 polls.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 18 Dec 2018, 06:44 AM
Updated : 18 Dec 2018, 12:42 PM

As a result the BNP chairperson is blocked from competing in the 11th parliamentary elections, state lawyers said.

The bench of Justice JBM Hassan issued the decision to dismiss the three petitions on Tuesday. The justice also dismissed the petition by Khaleda’s team expressing their lack of confidence in the bench.

The bench, which has only a single justice, was formed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain after another High Court bench issued a divided order on Khaleda Zia’s ability to contest the polls.

Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain formed the bench on Dec 12 after another High Court bench issued a split verdict on the validity of Khaleda’s nominations for the election.

The hearings began on Dec 13. Khaleda’s legal team said they were not confident of receiving justice at that bench and the judge then adjourned the hearing.

The matter was raised again on Tuesday as Khaleda’s lawyer AJ Mohammad Ali expressed his lack of confidence in the bench in writing.

The court dismissed the petition and ordered the hearing to begin, upon which AJ Mohammad Ali and Badruddoza Badol, Khaleda’s other lawyer, left the courtroom.

Election Commission lawyer Mahbubey Alam and state lawyer Motahar Hossain Saju then presented their arguments before the court rejected Khaleda’s nominations.