DHAKA: The High Court will hear on Monday (Jan 13) the writ petition filed seeking its directive on Election Commission to defer the Dhaka city corporations polls, slated for December 30.

The hearing of the petition, placed before a new HC bench of Justice JBM Hasan and Justice Md. Khairul Alam on Sunday (January 12), will be included in the cause list for Monday, said Supreme Court Adv Ashoke Kumar Ghosh, the petitioner.

Deputy Attorney General Nur-Us Sadik said the hearing will begin at 2 pm.

On January 6, Adv Ashoke Kumar Ghosh submitted the petition before the HC for its directive to the EC to defer the election date for a week as Saraswati Puja, one of the religious festivals of the Hindu community, will take place on December 30 at almost all the academic institutions in Dhaka city.

Election materials will be set up in the institutions for holding the election. Therefore, the puja will be hampered, which is contradictory to the religious sentiment, he mentioned in the petition.

On December 22, 2019, the Election Commission announced that the elections to the Dhaka south and north city corporations will be held on January 30.

BDST: 2009 HRS, JAN 12, 2020

AH/SMS