Reza Kibria places writ in HC to register Gono Odhikar Parishad as a political party

Gono Odhikar Parishad's Convenor Dr Reza Kibria has placed a writ petition in the High Court (HC) challenging the Election Commission's (EC) decision not to register it as a political party.

The petition was filed in the relevant branch of the HC seeking an order to register Gono Odhikar Parishad as a political party on Monday, Dr Reza Kibria's lawyer Illias Uddin Bhuiyan told reporters. 

The lawyer said that a division bench of the HC may hear the writ this week.

A letter, signed by EC Deputy Secretary Md Abdul Halim Khan to Dr Reza Kibria on 29 August, stated that Gono Odhikar Parishad will not be given registration since it does meet the required conditions. 

"An investigation report by field-level officials and a high-powered committee found that the central and district levels of Gono Odhikar Parishad met the conditions for registration. However, only 63 of the 141 upazila/thana level data provided by the party were correct. The remaining 78 upazila/thana and the information about having the prescribed number of voter members, which are required for registration, were found to be incorrect," it read.

"The party was not considered registrable by the Election Commission as the conditions of registration were not properly fulfilled by the party. In such a situation, according to sub-rule (6) of Rule-7 of the Political Party Registration Rules, 2008, the Election Commission has disallowed the application of the Gono Odhikar Parishad," the letter read. 

Meanwhile, the responsible officials of the EC said that Gono Odhikar Parishad suffers from internal conflict. 

Because, if more than one person claims the president-general secretary of the party, then the existence of the party is questioned, they said. 

Earlier on 1 July, the former vice president of Dhaka University Central Students' Union Nurul Haque Nur removed Reza Kibria from Gono Odhikar Parishad's convenor post and made Rashed Khan the acting convenor.

Meanwhile, Reza Kibria replaced Nurul Haque Nur as the member secretary of Gono Odhikar Parishad and placed Hasan Al Mamun in his place.