HC order on pleas seeking to freeze Dhaka City polls Wednesday

The High Court has heard two separate petitions seeking to stay the Feb 26 Dhaka City polls and kept its order pending for Wednesday.

The pleas filed by two Union Parishad chairmen challenge the Election Commission’s schedule for the by-polls to elect Dhaka North City Corporation mayor as well as councillors for the new 36 wards added to the North and South city corporations.

The chairmen of Bhatara and Beraid union councils, which are now city corporation wards, filed the petitions with the court on Tuesday.

Following initial hearings, justices Naima Haider and Zafar Ahmed set Wednesday for an order on the matters.

Lawyer Ahsan Habib Bhuiyan, who represented one of the petitioners, told bdnews24.com the EC has set Jan 18 as the deadline for filing nominations, but the electoral roll is yet to be published.

“The nomination paper requires signatures of 300 voters. How is that possible without a voters’ list?”

His client’s petition also raises the issue why the councillors from the new wards will not be able to be in office for a five-year term.

The chief election commissioner, local government secretary and the acting Dhaka North city mayor have been made a party to the petition.

The second petition challenged the polls schedule announced by the Election Commission on Jan 9.

“It seeks a rule as to why the schedule will not be declared illegal,” the petitioner’s counsel Jahangir Hossain Selim told bdnews24.com.

The chief election commissioner, secretary and joint secretary to the EC and the local government secretary have been made parties to the second petition.