Legality of district council polls questioned

The High Court today questioned the legality of the district council election schedule.

It issued a rule upon the Election Commission and the government to explain in four weeks as to why the election schedule should not be declared illegal.

In the rule the court also asked the government and Election Commission to show cause why the provisions of district council law that allowed an electoral body to cast vote in the district council election should not be declared illegal.

The High Court bench of Justice Quamrul Islam Siddique and Justice Sheikh Hassan Arif came up with the rule following a writ petition filed by Supreme Court lawyer Rumi Farhana.

She submitted the petition on December 14 challenging the legality of the Sections 4 (2) and 17 of the Zila Parisahd Act, Section 5 of Zila Parishad Amendment Act, and the election schedule.

She said in the petition, the sections are contrary to the relevant provisions of the constitution as the charter does not allow any indirect voting.

Meanwhile, the High Court bench, following another writ petition, stayed the effectiveness of the voter list of two Union Parishads in Satkhira for the election of its district council.

The petitioner claimed that the voter list is faulty as newly-elected representatives were not included in the voter list.