The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has upheld two separate High Court orders that cleared the way for holding by-elections to Lakshmipur-2 constituency on Monday (June 21).
A full bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain made the decision after hearing arguments on two separate petitions filed challenging the HC orders.
The apex court passed ‘no order’ on a petition filed by BNP leader and former MP from the constituency Abul Khair Bhuiyan, seeking stay on an order passed by the HC on June 14 clearing the way for holding the by-elections.
In another order, the SC dismissed a leave to appeal petition filed against the HC order that on June 8 summarily rejected another writ petition challenging the legality of decisions for announcing the Lakshmipur-2 constituency vacant and the schedule for holding a by-election to this constituency on June 21.
On June 8, the virtual HC bench of Justice Md Mojibur Rahman Mia and Justice Md Kamrul Hossain Mollah rejected the writ petition filed challenging legality of cancelling the MP post of Shahid Islam Papul, who was elected MP from Lakshmipur-2 constituency, and the decision for announcing the schedule to hold by-elections to the constituency.
Papul’s sister Nurunnahar Begum and Shahadat Hossain, a resident of Lakshmipur-2 constituency and proposer for Papul’s nomination, had submitted the writ petition on behalf of the convicted MP on March 15.
Shahid Islam Papul was elected as an independent MP from Lakshmipur-2 constituency in the 11th Parliamentary elections held in 2018. A Kuwaiti court on January 28 this year sentenced him and several others to four years in jail in a case filed over human trafficking, residency visa trading and money laundering.
On June 6 last year, Papul was arrested in Kuwait. On August 16, Abul Khair Bhuiyan filed a writ petition challenging the legality of Papul’s MP post as he had been accused of providing fake documents and submitting fake education certificates.
On February 22 this year, the Parliament Secretariat issued a gazette notification declaring that the Laxmipur-2 constituency (Parliamentary Seat-275) fell vacant on January 28, the date of Kuwait court’s sentence against Papul. Later, June 21 was fixed as the polling date for electing a new MP from the constituency.
According to the Constitution, ‘A person shall be disqualified for election as, or for being, a member of parliament who has been, on conviction for a criminal offence involving moral turpitude, sentenced to imprisonment for a term of not less than two years, unless a period of five years has elapsed since his release.’
Papul is now in Kuwait jail. This is the first time in the history of Bangladesh since the independence that a Member of Parliament has lost his post after being arrested abroad and convicted of a criminal offence.
