HC halted Dhaka North mayoral by-polls for six months, not three, EC says

The High Court has halted the Dhaka North mayoral by-polls and elections to 18 new wards in the city corporation by six months, not three months.

The court also froze the elections to 18 new wards of Dhaka South by four months, an Election Commission official said after getting copies of the orders on Tuesday.

A bench of Justice Naima Haider and Justice Zafar Ahmed passed the stay orders on Jan 17 and 18 after hearing two writ petitions challenging the schedule with the voting day on Feb 26.

Lawyers who attended the hearing said the High Court stayed the elections by three months.

Abul Kashem, the returning officer of the elections to the Dhaka city corporations, told bdnews24.com on Tuesday the certified copy of the order staying Dhaka North elections did not mention the duration of the stay.

“Now we’ve come to know that the stay (on DNCC polls) is for six months after receiving a photocopy of the order,” he said.

He said they had petitioned for certified copies of the orders and the commission would take the decision on challenging the court orders after getting the copies.

With the countdown to the next parliamentary election starting on Oct 30 and elections to five city corporations to be held in the near future, political analysts see little scope for the elections to the Dhaka city corporations being held if the EC does not challenge the stay orders.