HC issues rule on AB Party’s registration with EC

A High Court bench on Thursday issued a rule on the registration of the Amar Bangladesh Party (AB Party) as a political party that should not be declared unlawful and unconstitutional.

The High Court bench of Justice K M Qamrul Qader and Justice Mohammad Shaukat Ali Chowdhury issued the rule calling upon the Chief Election Commissioner, secretary of the Election Commission, and a deputy secretary in-charge of electoral registration sub-committee as to why their decision dated 24 July 2023 refusing to register Amar Bangladesh Party as a political party should not be declared unlawful and unconstitutional.

The order also asked the Election Commission (EC) as to why the AB Party should not be registered as a political party. The EC was granted four weeks to respond to the ruling before the HC decided to hear the matter substantially and decide on merit.

Tajul Islam, a lawyer of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh and a Joint-Convenor of AB Party acted as the lead counsel in the matter while lawyer Abdullah Al Mamun, Office Affairs Secretary, and Zubair Ahmed Bhuiyan, a Barrister-at-law and Joint Member Secretary of AB Party were also engaged in the case, according to a press release from the AB Party.  

AB Party submitted the application for electoral registration in October 2022. As part of the requirements, documents of 23 district committees, 7 metropolitan city committees, and 104 sub-district committees were submitted, it said.

Party offices were inspected by the EC officials across the country. However, the EC rejected the application for electoral registration on flimsy grounds in a letter dated 24 July 2024, the party claimed.

The letter vaguely claimed that documents and party offices related to 79 of the 104 sub-districts were not adequately found.

The EC did not name those for clarification or sought further documents to that effect. Adv Tajul Islam argued that the EC acted unfairly.