HC postpones Sylhet-3 by-polls till 5 August
On 25 July, five Supreme Court lawyers filed a writ petition demanding postponement of elections
The High Court (HC) has postponed the Sylhet-3 constituency by-elections till 5 August due to the ongoing lockdown. These elections were originally scheduled to be held on 28 July.
The special virtual HC bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim issued the order for the change in election date on Monday.
Advocate Mohammad Shishir Monir appeared for the writ petition while Attorney General AM Amin Uddin and Deputy Attorney General Bipul Bagmar appeared for the state.
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On 25 July, five Supreme Court lawyers – Md Muzahedul Islam, Advocate Al-Reza Md Amir, Advocate Md Jobaidur Rahman, Advocate Md Zahirul Islam and Advocate Mustafizur Rahman – filed a writ petition demanding postponement of the election.
Earlier, Advocate Mohammad Shishir Manir sent a legal notice on behalf of the five lawyers to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) by email, stating that holding the by-elections for the Sylhet-3 constituency on 28 July would run counter to the ongoing lockdown enforced by the government to restrain the surge in Covid-19 cases.
In the notice, the lawyers said there is no constitutional obligation for holding the by-elections on 28 July.
They also said if the CEC does not postpone the by-elections, they would move to the HC for necessary directives to this effect.
Shishir Manir said holding the by-elections to the Sylhet-3 constituency of 3.52 lakh voters would run counter to the government's lockdown policy.
The Sylhet-3 constituency fell vacant when parliamentarian Mahmud Us Samad Chowdhury died of Covid-19 on 11 March.
Ruling party Awami League candidate Habibur Rahman Habib, Jatiya Party candidate Mohammad Atiqur Rahman, Bangladesh Congress candidate Junayed Mohammad Miah and BNP rebel candidate Shafi Ahmed Chowdhury are contesting in the by-polls.
