Jamaat leaders able to contest Dec 30 polls after HC decision

Hossen Sohel of DOT
The High Court has issued a rule asking why the decision to allow leaders from the Jamaat-e-Islami party, which had its registration as a political party scrapped, to compete in the 11th national parliamentary election should not be declared illegal, reports bdnews24.com.
However, as the court has not stayed the Election Commission’s decision allowing 25 Jamaat candidates to contest the polls, there are no legal barriers to them competing on Dec 30, lawyers said.
The Election Commission had scrapped a petition from four individuals challenging the decision to allow Jamaat-e-Islami leaders to compete in the polls.
The bench of Justice JMB Hassan and Justice Md Khairul Alam issued the rule after an initial hearing of the petition on Thursday.
The rule asked why the EC’s letter dismissing the petition to remove the 25 BNP-nominated and independent Jamaat candidates from the election should not be declared illegal.
The chief election commissioner, the election commission secretary, the 25 Jamaat candidates and other relevant individuals will have to respond to the rule within four weeks.
Ruhul Quddus Kajol represented the Jamaat leaders in court, Md Yasin Khan represented the Election Commissioner, while lawyer Tania Amir represented the petitioners.
EC lawyer Khan spoke to the media after the hearing.
“While the rule was being considered, the petitioners requested that the 25 individuals involved be barred from the polls,” he said. “The court did not issue that order. As a result, there are no barriers to the 25 candidates contesting the polls.”