Gulam Rabbani :
A chaotic situation over the counting of the votes cast for the Secretary post in the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) election for the 2022-23 sessions created an uncertainty, although the counting of votes has already been completed.
As incumbent Secretary Barrister Ruhul Quddus Kazal was leading towards the close of counting the votes, supporters of his rival Md Abdun Nur Dulal locked in a chaos early Friday.
Meanwhile, before the announcement of the final result, Advocate AY Mashiuzzaman, Convener of the election sub-committee, resigned from his post alleging misconduct on the part of the supporters of Awami League-backed Secretary candidate Md Abdun Nur Dulal. As a result, the announcement of election result has been suspended. Voting in two-day polls to elect the office bearers for the 2022-2023 sessions of the Supreme Court Bar Association were held on March 15 and 16. Then the counting of votes ended at midnight on March 17. But, supporters of Md Abdun Nur Dulal locked in a chaos early Friday while Barrister Kazal was leading the counting.
Supporters of Mr Abdun Nur Dulal demanded for a recounting of the votes for the post of Secretary at the end of the counting. But without disposing of the petition filed by the supporters of Abdun Nur Dulal, the Convener of the sub-committee resigned.
Advocate AY Mashiuzzaman said, “Although I mentioned medical grounds in the resignation letter, actually I was humiliated. For many years I have been conducting the election of the Supreme Court Bar Association. But I never saw such dirtiness in SCBA. I wanted to bring the election system of the SCBA into a form, but I saw that it was not happening.”
He also said, “The behavior of the supporters of the Secretary candidate of the Awami League-backed panel is unexpected. Senior lawyers of the panel were also present at that time and they didn’t take any step to stop their supporters.”
The lawyer also said, “I never announced for recounting of the votes. I just said that I will dispose of the petition filed for recounting at afternoon on March 18 in presence of both parties. I was forced to announce about the recounting petition.”
Meanwhile, Abdun Nur Dulal demanded again to dispose of his petition filed for recounting the votes on Saturday.
Barrister Ruhul Quddus Kazal said, “There is no provision of recounting or fresh counting of votes in our Constitution. Unfortunately, the election commissioners had been blocked before the announcement of the result after the counting. People who are not members of the bar were also present at the time and did misconduct with the election commissioners.”
Even though I believe the formalities for announcing the result of the election will be concluded soon, said Barrister Kazal adding that they have already requested the Convener of the election sub-committee continues their job in announcing the result.
Sources said, main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party- backed lawyers’ blue panel bagged majority of the posts, including the Secretary, in the Supreme Court Bar Association election.
Ruling Awami League-backed white panel secured six posts, including the President.
Former Secretary and also a former Additional Attorney General Md Momtaz Uddin Fakir was elected the President defeating his rival Md Bodruddoza Badal.
The election sub-committee members, without declaring the unofficial result amid the chaos, decided to sit with the rival candidates at 3:00 pm on March 18, if the recounting prayer would be granted or not.
The other office-bearer backed by BNP are two Assistant Secretaries Mahfuz Bin Yousuf and Mohammad Mahbubur Rahman Khan, Treasurer Mohammad Kamal Hossain and four Executive Members -Kamrul Islam, Mahdin Choudhury, Md Golam Akter Zakir and Md Monzurul Alam Sujan.
AL backed other office bearers are two Vice Presidents Md Shahidul Islam and Mohammad Hossain, and three Executive Members Fatema Begum, Shahadat Hossain Rajib and Subrata Kumar Kundu.
