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The High Court on Tuesday rejected summarily a writ petition that sought change in the election schedule of two city corporations of Dhaka as the ‘Saraswati Puja’ will be observed on January 30 in 2020, the scheduled date for the election.
The decision cleared the way for the Election Commission for holding the Dhaka North City Cooperation (DNCC) and Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) elections on January 30.
The court said in the order that the countrywide SSC examination will start on February 2, the government holiday for Saraswati Puja has been fixed earlier on Jan 29 and nobody raised any objection against the government holiday on Jan 29.
Therefore, under the circumstances, there is no scope for shifting the date of holding elections of the two city corporations of Dhaka.
The HC bench of Justice JBM Hassan and Justice Md Khairul Alam passed the order after holding hearing on the writ petition.
Advocate Rana Das Gupta and advocate Ashoke Kumar Ghosh appeared in the court on behalf of the writ petition while deputy attorney general Noor-us Sadik stood for the state.
Ashoke Kumar Ghosh, a Supreme Court lawyer, filed the petition on January 6, 2020, with the High Court seeking its order to bring change in the election schedule.
Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda on December 22, 2019, announced the schedule for the elections to Dhaka north city corporation (DNCC) and Dhaka south city corporation (DSCC) to be held on January 30, 2020.
The lawyer said, “The formalities of the Saraswati Puja will be continued till January 30, 2020, and this puja will be observed in all the schools, colleges and universities of the country. The election commission has to take preparation for the vote before January 30. So the functions of the pjua will be disrupted due to the election preparation. So the date of the election should be re-fixed.”
The petition said, “The election schedule is illegal as it is against the principal fundamental rights as has been granted under Articles 8, 12, 27 and 28 of the Constitution.”
Before filing the writ petition, the lawyer on December 30, 2019, sent a legal notice to the election commission and other respondents for changing the date of city polls. But the respondents didn’t comply with the notice.