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Published : 12 Apr 2025, 10:52 PM
The Election Commission has finalised 21 candidates, including BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami supporters, for the Chittagong Bar Association elections.
The polls will be held for positions including the president and the secretary.
The final list was published after the deadline to present an objection and hold a hearing against the validity of nomination papers expired on Saturday.
One candidate each from the BNP-Jamaat-e-Islami Lawyers’ Unity Council has been nominated for the association posts, meaning they are set to win uncontested.
Chief Election Officer Tariq Ahmed told bdnews24.com, “A total of 21 candidates have been finalised for 21 posts.
“Voting is not being held this time due to the unavailability of competitors. A decision will be announced [on Sunday] regarding the final candidates.”
For the first time, each post in the Chittagong District Bar Association had only one candidate, resulting in an uncontested win.
The concerned lawyers said the 21 posts were “shared” among those aligned with BNP-Jamaat.
BNP-supporting lawyers have nominated candidates for a total of 14 positions, including for the posts of the president and general secretary.
Meanwhile, Jamaat-supporting lawyers have nominated candidates for a total of seven positions, including one vice-president and two editorial positions.
The final announced candidates are - Abdus Sattar for the post of president, Mohammad Hasan Ali Chowdhury for the post of general secretary, Senior Vice-President Kazi Mohammad Siraj, Vice-President Alamgir Mohammad Yunus, Deputy General Secretary Md Fazlul Bari, Finance Secretary Md Anwar Hossain, Library Secretary Touhidul Islam, Cultural Secretary Ashrafi Binte Motaleb, Sports Secretary Md Manjur Hossain, and Abdul Jabbar for the post of Information and Technology Secretary.
The candidates for the post of executive member of the committee are: Ahsan Ullah Manik, Asma Khanam, Bibi Fatema, Helal Uddin, Mezbah ul Alam Amin, Md Raihanul Wazed Chowdhury, Md Robaytul Karim, Md Shahed Hossain, Mohammad Morshed, Rahela Gulshan, and Sajjad Kamrul Hossain.
ALLEGATIONS OF OBSTRUCTION IN FORM COLLECTION
The nomination forms for the Bar Association elections were collected on Apr 10.
Although nomination forms were to be collected between 2pm and 4pm that day, Awami League and left-leaning lawyers allegedly faced obstruction.
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leader and Public Safety Tribunal PP Shahadat Hossain also reported “physical harassment” when he went to collect the form for the post of president.
Lawyers who were unable to collect the form due to obstacles could not collect the nomination papers despite making verbal and written complaints to the ad hoc committee.
Pro-Awami League lawyers alleged this unprecedented process was followed to “divide” the posts of the association among themselves.
Former PP Abdur Rashid, who wanted to run for the post of president, earlier complained of facing obstacles while collecting the form, saying: “Even a lawyer who joined the LDP was not allowed to collect the form. They want to score goals on empty posts.”
