The High Court (HC) on Wednesday set Thursday for its order on a writ petition challenging the legality of a gazette declaring BNP leader Ishraque Hossain as Mayor of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) and seeking a directive to halt his swearing-in.
The bench of Justice Md Akram Hossain Chowdhury and Justice Debashish Roy Chowdhury fixed the date after hearing arguments from both sides.
The hearing on the writ began Tuesday at 1:00pm and continued until 2:00pm, and then resumed from 4:10pm to 5:15pm. The court initially set Wednesday at 12:30pm for the order but later postponed it to Thursday.
Barrister A M Mahbub Uddin Khokon, lawyer Kaysar Kamal, and Deputy Attorney General Mahfuzur Rahman Milon argued in favour of rejecting the writ. Advocate Mohammad Hossain represented the petitioner and responded to their statements.
The petitioner highlighted “mistakes” in the election tribunal’s ruling that voided the 2020 DSCC mayoral election result and declared Ishraque Hossain as the new mayor. The lawyers opposing the writ argued that only a party directly affected—such as the previous mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh—could appeal the tribunal’s decision. They said a third party lawyer filing a writ in the High Court was not valid.
The DSCC election was held on February 1, 2020, in which Awami League’s Taposh won with over 400,000 votes. Ishraque, his closest rival from BNP, secured around 236,000 votes. Alleging vote rigging and irregularities, Ishraque filed a case on March 3, 2020.
After the fall of the Awami League government in a student-led uprising in August last year, all city mayors were removed, and Shahjahan Mia, an additional secretary, was appointed DSCC administrator.
On March 27 this year, the electoral tribunal led by Judge Md Nurul Islam cancelled Taposh’s victory and declared Ishraque mayor, ordering the Election Commission (EC) to publish a gazette within 10 days. The EC published it on April 27.
On the same day, two individuals—Rafiqul Islam and Mamunur Rashid—served legal notices to appeal the verdict, calling it hasty and irregular. Their lawyer claimed the EC issued the notification without waiting for a legal opinion from the law ministry.
Later, Mamunur Rashid filed a writ with the High Court challenging the March 27 judgment and April 27 gazette. The petition also sought an order to stop Ishraque’s swearing-in.
Meanwhile, Ishraque’s supporters launched a blockade programme in front of the DSCC office demanding that he be sworn in as mayor. Demonstrations have continued over the past few days.
MSK/
