3-month stay on Gazipur city polls

Just 10 days before the voting day, the High Court yesterday stayed the Gazipur City Corporation election for three months with the Election Commission entirely in the dark about the development.

"Truly speaking, I came to know about the matter from television scrolls," said Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda, who was in Khulna yesterday for holding talks with mayoral candidates of Khulna City Corporation.

Election Commissioner Mahbub Talukder, who was in his office yesterday, was also surprised.

He said he was not even aware of the grounds for the stay order. "Yet, I verbally ordered the returning officer of Gazipur city polls to suspend all activities related to the election showing respect to the court order." 

EC Secretary Helal Uddin, who is travelling with the CEC, said he too knew nothing about the petition. “We all came to know about it later."

Article 125 (c) of the constitution says, "A court shall not pass any order or direction, ad interim or otherwise, in relation to an election for which schedule has been announced, unless the Election Commission has been given reasonable notice and an opportunity of being heard."

The article was included in the 15th constitutional amendment in 2011 on EC's request. 

The stay order comes more than a month after the EC announced the election schedule on March 31.

The HC bench of Justice Naima Haider and Justice Zafar Ahmed passed the order in response to a petition by a Savar upazila Awami League leader yesterday. In the petition, the AL leader challenged the inclusion of some areas of Shimulia Union Parishad of Savar in the Gazipur City Corporation.

The court ordered the EC and the government to explain why inclusion of six mouzas of Shimulia union in the Gazipur City Corporation and the election schedule should not be declared illegal.

On January 17, the same HC bench stayed the Dhaka North City Corporation mayoral by-polls, scheduled for February 26, for six months. The election schedule was announced after the sudden death of Mayor Annisul Huq.

Like in some past cases, including the DNCC one, the EC could not contest yesterday's writ as it did not have any information about the petition beforehand.  

After the stay order on the DNCC polls, the Commission moved the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, which ordered the HC on February 25 to expedite the hearing and disposal of the rules. The rules are now pending before the HC.

The HC order staying the DNCC polls triggered a blame game between the Awami League and the BNP.

The BNP held the AL and the EC responsible for the situation while the ruling party claimed that the BNP was "guilty of the same crime".

This time too, the BNP is blaming the government. Its Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir alleged that the ruling party hatched a conspiracy to stop the election sensing its defeat. 

The party would appeal against the HC order, he said.

AL Presidium Member Faruk Khan said their campaign was in full swing and that they had no knowledge about the writ.

Replying to BNP's allegation, he said the AL or the government had nothing to do with the court order.

In the last city polls in Gazipur in 2013 election, BNP-backed candidate MA Mannan defeated his AL counterpart Azmat Ullah Khan by around 1.5 lakh votes. 

YESTERDAY'S WRIT

In his petition, Shimulia union Chairman ABM Azharul Islam argued that the LGRD ministry issued a gazette notification on March 4 including the six mouzas of the union in the Gazipur city without informing the Dhaka district administration.

Barrister BM Elias Kachi and Syed Rezaur Rahman appeared for the petitioner.

The petitioner gave a copy of the petition to Tawhidul Islam, who represented the EC in the past. The court also informed him about the petition.

The EC secretary confirmed to The Daily Star that they did not authorise Tawhidul to stand for the EC in this case.

Nonetheless, Tawhidul vehemently opposed the writ, which he argued was not maintainable.

The LGRD ministry issued a gazette notification on January 16, 2013, declaring the GCC, including the six moujas of Shimulia union, he said.

The writ petitioner submitted an application to the ministry against the inclusion. But as the ministry did not resolve the issue, the petitioner moved the HC, which ordered the ministry to settle the matter, he added.

In line with the HC directive, the ministry on March 4 this year issued another gazette notification, declaring GCC comprising 192 moujas, including the six moujas of Shimulia union, Tawhidul told the court.

“So this writ petition challenging the notification is not acceptable,” he argued.

The court heard both the sides for about 30 minutes, before passing the stay order.

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam later told reporters that the government would decide on its next move after receiving the full text of the HC order.

The CEC also said they would take necessary measures after examining the stay order.