Appeal filed to suspend presidential election schedule

After his writ petition was dismissed by the High Court, Supreme Court lawyer Yunus Ali Akand has now filed an application with the Appellate Division seeking a suspension of the schedule for the presidential election. However, the lawyer said the case could not be heard on Wednesday.

Earlier, the High Court on Tuesday summarily dismissed a writ petition filed by the lawyer challenging the validity of Article 70 of the Constitution, which concerns the vacation of a parliamentary seat for voting against one’s party in Parliament, as well as the schedule for the presidential election. He filed the application with the Appellate Division one day after the dismissal of his writ petition.

Yunus Ali Akand told Agamir Somoy that after receiving the full copy of the High Court’s order, he would file an appeal against it. However, until then, he filed the application on Wednesday seeking a suspension of the presidential election schedule. The application may be heard on Thursday.

Meanwhile, a separate writ petition filed by another Supreme Court lawyer seeking to suspend the presidential election was summarily dismissed by a High Court bench led by Justice Raziq Al Jalil on Wednesday.

Afterward, Attorney General Barrister Md. Ruhul Quddus Kazal told reporters that since the two writ petitions had been summarily dismissed by the High Court, there was no legal obstacle to holding the presidential election on August 20.

He said, “Yesterday (Tuesday), one writ petition was summarily dismissed, and today (Wednesday), another writ petition filed by a lawyer was dismissed, leaving no legal obstacle to holding the election. In that case, the presidential election will be held smoothly on Thursday.”

Regarding the application filed with the Appellate Division, the Attorney General said, “At such a stage of the election, courts generally do not suspend the schedule. I do not think his application will be admissible in court.”