The High Court (HC) has questioned the legality of immunity, granted to the election commissioners (ECs) in the Jatiyo Sangsad (JS) elections in 2014 and 2018.
It has issued a rule upon the respondents to explain in four weeks as to why the Section 9 of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners Appointment Act 2022, which granted immunity to the ECs for their activities, should not be declared unconstitutional.
The law secretary and the Election Commission secretary have been asked to comply with the rule.
The HC bench of Justice A K M Asaduzzaman and Justice Muhammad Mahbub Ul Islam passed the order after hearing a writ petition, filed by 10 Supreme Court (SC) lawyers.
Advocate Mohammad Shishir Manir appeared in the court hearing on behalf of the writ petitioners.
On August 18, the lawyers filed the writ petition, seeking the HC directive to declare the ECs' immunity unconstitutional. The petitioners were Abdullah Sadiq, G M Mozahedur Rahman, Misbah Uddin, Zobaidur Rahman, Noawab Ali, Azim Uddin Patwary, Sajjad Sarwar, Mozahedul Islam, Mizanul Haque, and A K M Nurun Nabi.
The section in question prohibits any court from questioning the appointments of the chief election commissioner (CEC) and the ECs for the 2014 and 2018 elections.
Shishir Manir said, "The Section 9 of the Act was challenged, as it declares the appointments of the CEC and other ECs, made on the basis of recommendations of a previous search committee, formed by the President, as valid, and it prevents any court from questioning these appointments."
He further said the Section 9 removes the right to seek judicial review against appointments of the Election Commisssioners and limits the judiciary's power.
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