HC starts hearing on article 70

The High Court yesterday started hearing a writ petition that challenged the legality of Article 70 regarding cancellation of membership of a lawmaker for voting against his or her political party.

The HC bench of Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury and Justice JBM Hassan adjourned the hearing till October 8 as writ petitioner Advocate Eunus Ali Akond in a supplementary petition has “misquoted” the Supreme Court's observations about Article 70.

According to Article 70, a lawmaker has to vacate his or her seat if he or she votes in parliament against the party that nominated him or her.

Eunus told The Daily Star that he submitted the supplementary petition to the HC yesterday containing some of the observations the SC had made in the judgement in the constitution's 16th amendment case, but there were some “typing errors” in the supplementary petition.

He said he will correct the supplementary petition during the next hearing.

Deputy Attorney General Motaher Hossain Sazu opposed the writ petition saying that Eunus Ali Akond has filed the writ petition for his personal interest as he said in the writ petition that he is a candidate for the post of president of the republic.

On April 18, Eunus submitted the writ petition with the HC, challenging the legality of Article 70, saying that it is against democracy and contradicts Articles 7, 19, 26, 27, 44, 31 and 119 of the constitution.