HC defers order on plea against Ishraque’s mayorship until tomorrow

The High Court today deferred until 10:45am tomorrow  the delivery of its order on a writ petition that sought stay on the Election Commission's decision to declare BNP-nominated candidate Mohammad Ishraque Hossain as the mayor of Dhaka South City Corporation.

The bench of Justice Md Akram Hossain Chowdhury and Justice Debasish Roy Chowdhury, which was scheduled to pass the order at 12:30pm today, deferred the date after Ishtiaque's lawyers -- Barrister AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon and Barrister Kayser Kamal --, and petitioner's lawyer Mohammad Hossain placed further arguments before the bench.

Yesterday, the HC bench fixed today (Wednesday) for the delivery of its order on conclusion of the hearing on the matter.

On March 27 this year, Dhaka's First Joint District Judge and Election Tribunal Judge Md Nurul Islam overturned 2020 DSCC's election result, declared Ishraque as rightful winner as its mayor and ordered the EC to issue a gazette within ten days.

The EC on April 27 has issued a gazette notification declaring Ishraque Hossain as the mayor of DSCC.

One Mamunur Rashid, a resident of DSCC, on May 14 submitted the writ petition to the HC, challenging the legality of the tribunal's verdict and EC's gazette notification.

He said in the petition that the tribunal delivered the verdict hastily and without following proper legal procedures.

The EC has not sought the law ministry's opinion before issuing the gazette notification, he said in the petition.

Since the mayoral term had already expired and the position was vacated through an ordinance, the tribunal lacked the jurisdiction to declare Ishraque elected as DSCC mayor, he said.