On Sunday, Chamber Judge of the Appellate Division, Justice Farah Mahbub, upheld the High Court’s order that had stayed an earlier directive, paving the way for the elections to be held according to the announced schedule.
Earlier, the High Court had suspended the effectiveness of a letter issued on September 18 by BCB President Aminul Islam regarding councillor nominations.
The letter had directed the Youth and Sports Ministry Secretary, as well as divisional and district sports associations, to cancel old nomination forms and submit new ones.
Following a writ petition challenging the validity of that letter, the High Court issued a rule on September 22 and temporarily stayed the letter’s effectiveness.
The state later appealed the order before the Appellate Division. Initially, the hearing was deferred until September 28, and the stay order was extended until then. Subsequently, during the September 28 hearing, the stay was further extended until October 5, with Sunday (October 5) set for final hearing.
At today’s hearing, the petitioners requested a suspension of the BCB elections, but the court rejected the plea, stating, “We are not order of suspension the election. The election should take place.”
The state was represented by Additional Attorney General Mohammad Arshadur Rauf and Anik R Haque, assisted by Deputy Attorney General Abdullah Al Mahmud. Senior lawyer Md Ruhul Quddus and lawyer Kaiser Kamal appeared for the petitioners, while Mahin M Rahman represented the BCB.
With the Appellate Division’s order removing the final legal barrier, the Bangladesh Cricket Board elections will now be held tomorrow, Monday, as per the previously announced schedule.
