Supreme Court asks Dinajpur Chamber to hold fresh election in 5 months

An appellate division bench of the Supreme Court has ordered to cancel the incumbent executive committee of Dinajpur Chamber of Commerce and Industry and hold a fresh election under an administrative committee within five months.

The order was passed on August 11 in response to a writ filed by Biswanath Agarwala, a member of Dinajpur Chamber.

In a press conference held at Dinajpur Press Club today, Agarwala said he filed the writ as there were a large number of fake voters in the latest election of the trade body.

Other members of the chamber were also present at the conference.

The petitioner in his speech said that the number of valid voters of the trade body was around 1,628. But the number rose to 2,602 before the election.

The election for the biennial committee was held in June last year.

Later, Agarwala and other members of Dinajpur Chamber of Commerce and Industry filed a petition at the arbitration court of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry on June 12 last year challenging the legality of number of fake voters.

At the arbitration court, the defence party failed to prove the validity of the fake voters.

Later, on June 22 this year, the arbitration court led by its chairman, AK Azad, court termed the incumbent committee illegal and ordered to hold a fresh election under an administrative committee for the inclusion of the fake voters.

The arbitration court also ordered the commerce ministry to hold a fresh election with updated voter lists within 5 months after appointing an administrator, said the petitioner.

Challenging the judgement of arbitration court, the defence party filed a petition again to the appellate division bench of the Supreme Court, but the court dismissed it.

Imam Hasan, the lawyer of petitioner, said his opponents failed to submit any backup documents supporting the voters.

Defense lawyer Mokarramus Saklan denied to comment on the issue.