Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Oikya Panel, backed by the BNP-led 20-part alliance, has won the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) elections, defeating the pro-Awami League panel, Sammilita Ainjibi Samannay Parisad.
According to the poll results, BNP Vice-chairman, Advocate Joynul Abedin from Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Oikya Panel was re-elected SCBA president, while Barrister Mahbub Uddin Khokon became the general secretary again of the association, outplaying their respective rivals.
AY Mashiuzzaman, convener of the SCBA election conducting committee, announced the results on Friday.
Of the total 14 posts, Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Oikya Panel bagged ten, while four posts, including one of vice-president, went to Sammilita Ainjibi Samannay Parisad.
The two-day elections ended on Thursday.
BNP takes a dig at govt over SCBA polls
BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi on Friday said the victory of the pro-BNP panel in the SCBA polls demonstrated lawyers' annoyance to the government's “naked interference” in the judiciary.
Speaking at a press conference at the party's Nayapaltan headquarters, he also alleged that the jail authorities were not allowing their chairperson Khaleda Zia's lawyers to have Vokalatnama (power of attorney) signed by her to move her cases as she has been in jail after being convicted in a graft case.
"The BNP-backed panel won a crushing victory in the SCBA polls, bagging 10 posts including the ones of president and general secretary. I, on behalf of BNP, congratulate them. This victory is a protest against the government's nude interference in the judiciary," the BNP leader added.
“By casting their ballots in favour of the pro-BNP panel, Supreme Court lawyers had actually registered their protest against the government's 'foul play' with the judiciary,” claimed Rizvi, a member of BNP Standing Committee, the party’s highest policymaking body.
He said the government was trying to keep Khaleda in jail to establish it’s a one-party political system in the country.
“We will free our chairperson from jail and “restore” democracy in the country through intensifying our movement against the government,” the BNP leader warned.
