Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Sunday said it would participate in the next parliamentary elections with its symbol if the elections were held under a non-party caretaker government because the party’s registration was still valid.
“The High Court is yet to declare its full verdict in this matter and we have appealed to the Supreme Court. Until the Supreme Court gives its full verdict, the party’s registration is legal,” said Syed Abdullah Mohammad Taher, member of Jamaat’s central working committee.
After a meeting between a four-member delegation of Jamaat and the chief election commissioner at the Election Commission Secretariat, he claimed that the CEC had agreed with their legal explanation.
“The chief election commissioner told us that the commission would decide [on Jamaat’s registration] after getting the full verdict of the High Court,” Taher said.
Later, however, CEC Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad denied having agreed with Jamaat’s legal explanation.
“There is nothing to agree with. We heard their legal explanations. The commission will take initiatives as per the laws,” he told the media after the meeting.
“Since the High Court gave a verdict declaring Jamaat’s registration illegal, it would be applicable to all. But the commission is yet to take any action in this regard as it is yet to get the copy of the full High Court verdict,” he said, adding that the EC would get the verdict’s copy soon.
Taher told reporters that the EC had no authority to cancel the registration of Jamaat until the Supreme Court gave its final verdict.
“Jamaat is a legal political party in the country as it got its registration through a legal process,” he added.
On the approval of the voter list act excluding the names of war criminals and collaborators, Taher said turning it into a law would contradict human rights and the constitution as anyone above 18 had the rights to become a voter.
