Thousand Bar Council voters registered multiple times

With the election to Bangladesh Bar Council scheduled for May 20, the licencing and regulatory body for lawyers has found out that around 1,000 of its members have been registered multiple times in its voter list.

Besides, following advertisements from the authorities, 623 lawyers have applied between May 1 and 7 to remove the repetition of their names.

About 48,465 names have been registered so far to elect the 14-member executive body, comprising equal general and regional seats, from 61 contestants.

Most of the 623 might be among the 1,000 and the council hopes to correct it by May 15 after which there will be no question about the election's fairness, the council's Assistant Director Nazmul Ahsan told The Daily Star yesterday.

The council prepares its voter list from that sent by the numerous bar associations in the country, he reasoned for the repetition.

Most of the 1,000 are voters of both Supreme Court Bar Association and Dhaka Bar Association, he said.

There is no scope to cast multiple votes, he said, adding, "I believe a lawyer does not cast multiple votes even if his or her name is enlisted multiple times."

The council Vice Chairman Khandker Mahbub Hossain told The Daily Star that the "scope to turn a lawyer into multiple voters" was created after the present government cancelled a relevant provision of Bar Council Law.

The provision stipulated that a lawyer could cast vote in only one bar council's election.

The chief executive said the correction was being carried out as per the council's decision, propagated by Attorney General Mahbubey Alam, the ex-officio chairman.

Khandker, leading the BNP-backed Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Oikya Panel (JAOP) in the election, said the ruling Awami League (AL)-backed panel was trying to foil the election on different excuses sensing defeat. 

AL-backed Sammilito Ainjibi Samannoy Parishad candidate SM Rezaul Karim said their panel would contest the election to win as the country's lawyers have rejected JAOP as their leaders have politicised the council.