Dhaka, April 30 Bangladesh’s Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) has rejected the nomination papers of 42 lawyers out of 90 candidates for its election next month, on grounds of alleged links to the Awami League, local media reported on Thursday.
The decision followed an extraordinary general meeting held in Dhaka on April 26, at which members of the SCBA reportedly voted to ban pro-Awami League lawyers from contesting its upcoming annual elections scheduled for May 13 and 14, citing a legal prohibition on the party's activities.
Those disqualified for SCBA polls include two candidates for president, seven for secretary, two for treasurer, 10 for assistant secretaries, and 21 for executive members.
Confirming the development, SCBA Senior Vice-President and a pro-Bangladesh Nationalist Party lawyer, Md Humayun Kabir Manju, said that scrutiny found their “direct and indirect involvement” with Awami League activities, Bangladesh’s leading newspaper, Daily Star, reported.
Following the cancellations, 48 candidates remain in the race to contest the upcoming election. Several disqualified lawyers also criticised the decision, arguing that they had submitted nominations in their individual capacities, not on behalf of any political party.
Md Munsurul Hoque Chowdhury, a veteran lawyer and disqualified presidential candidate, described the move as “illegal and condemnable”.
“This unprecedented and farcical conduct by the ad hoc committee will remain a disgraceful chapter in the 77-year history of the Supreme Court Bar Association," Daily Star quoted Chowdhury as saying.
Earlier this week, a leading international human rights organisation strongly condemned the Bangladesh Supreme Court Bar Association's decision to cancel the nomination papers of more than 20 lawyers allegedly affiliated with the Awami League, effectively barring them from contesting the upcoming SCBA elections.
Justice Makers Bangladesh in France described the move as "unjust" and a "blatant and dangerous attack" on the core principles of democracy, the rule of law, and the independence of the legal profession.
It stated that excluding candidates on the basis of alleged political affiliation amounts to "political discrimination that has no place in a credible legal institution".
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Justice Makers Bangladesh in France called on the national and international legal community to take note of the "erosion of democratic and professional norms" in Bangladesh.
--IANS
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