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Published : 16 Apr 2026, 04:37 PM
National Citizen Party (NCP) lawmaker Akhter Hossen has expressed his fury in parliament over the postponement of the Bangladesh Bar Council elections.
The Rangpur-4 representative pointed out a contradiction in the government's stance, noting that while the council cited a "severe fuel crisis" for the delay, the ruling party has consistently denied any such energy shortage during parliamentary sessions.
Standing on a point of order during the final stage of the session on Thursday, Akhter sought statements from both the energy and law ministers.
He mentioned that a notice was received at midnight announcing the suspension of the May 19 polls due to fuel issues.
The MP questioned whether the actual issue was a genuine energy crunch or an attempt to politicise a statutory body by keeping it under an ad-hoc committee.
Although such committees are meant for emergencies like pandemics, Akhter argued that the current ad-hoc arrangement has persisted “unnecessarily” since the formation of the interim government.
Raising further questions, he said there was “inconsistency” in the government’s position on energy supply.
“When we speak about the energy crisis in parliament, the ruling party says there is no such crisis. Yet a government institution cites the energy shortage to postpone an election,” he said.
Responding in parliament, Law Minister Asaduzzaman said the matter brought to the House was important and clarified that the law allows postponement for “other reasonable grounds” as well, which the MP did not mention in his remarks.
He said, “He [Akhter] understands everything, I accept that, but he only presents what suits him; he does not present the rest.”
The minister said the Bar Council is an autonomous body that makes its decisions independently, and the government had not interfered in the decision.
He added that several bar associations, including Dhaka Bar Association, had requested postponement due to ongoing election activities within their own bodies, and those requests were taken into consideration.
Earlier, the Bar Council had set May 19 for the election following a meeting chaired on Apr 2 by its Chairman and Attorney General Md Ruhul Quddus Kazal.
The election, however, was suspended after an emergency meeting held on Wednesday night at the Bar Council office.
A statement from the council said the decision was taken due to a “severe fuel crisis”, which could disrupt nationwide campaign activities for candidates contesting general and regional seats.
It also cited requests from several bar associations, including the Supreme Court Bar Association, Dhaka Bar Association, and Chattogram District Bar Association.
The law minister noted that the government supports the Bar Council’s independence and its decision-making process, saying there was no intervention from the state in the matter.
