The High Court has stayed the election process to the executive posts of the Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) for two months on a charge of irregularities in the voter list. The BFUJ elections were scheduled to be held on October 23.
The HC bench of Justice Md Mozibur Rahman Miah and Justice Md Kamrul Hossain Mollah issued the stay order following a writ petition filed by a journalist of Chattogram.
Mohammad Hasan Ferdous, former general secretary of Chattogram Union of Journalists (CUJ), filed the writ petition challenging the legality of the voter list prepared for the BFUJ elections in 2021.
Advocate Nurul Karim, a lawyer of Bangladesh Supreme Court, appeared for the writ petitioner during the hearing, while Assistant Attorney General Golam Sarwar Payel represented the state.
Golam Sarwar Payel told the media that the name of writ petitioner Mohammad Hasan Ferdous was dropped from the voter list. 16 other members of the CUJ were also dropped from the voter list. The petitioner argued in the petition that he lost his opportunity to cast vote and has been deprived of submitting his nomination paper.
Hasan Ferdous submitted an application to the BFUJ president and the registrar general of the trade union in August and September this year for correcting the voter list by including his name, but they did not respond to his call, said Golam Sarwar.
The HC also asked the secretary of labour and employment ministry to explain why the inaction of the director and registrar of Trade Unions, Divisional Labour Office in Dhaka to exercise his supervisory authority over BFUJ’s election as per the Labour Law, would not be declared illegal.
The court also asked the BJUJ and CUJ to explain why they would not be directed to include petitioner Hassan Ferdous in the voters list as per the previous voters list.