SC stays Mahmudul's oath taking as MP
The Supreme Court (SC) yesterday stayed the administration of oath to Major General (retd) Mahmudul Hasan as lawmaker for Tangail-5 constituency till tomorrow.
Mahmudul, a BNP-backed candidate, was scheduled to be sworn today, as the SC earlier had directed the Election Commission to declare him as elected lawmaker of the constituency.
Chamber judge of the Appellate Division of SC yesterday passed the order following a prayer moved by Advocate Anisul Huq, a counsel for Abul Kashem whose candidacy was declared illegal by the apex court.
Abul Kashem, a Jatiya Party candidate, was elected Member of Parliament in the elections held on December 29, 2008.
Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, chamber judge of the Appellate Division, also fixed May 31 for holding hearing on the review petition filed by Abul Kashem against the SC verdict before its full bench.
During hearing Anisul Huq told the court that the review petition would become ineffective if his rival candidate Mahmudul Hassan was administered oath today.
He prayed to the court to stay the administration of oath to Mahmudul and to hold hearing of the review petition.
Barrister M Amir-Ul Islam, the counsel for Mahmudul, opposed the prayer for staying the administration of oath of his client.
Shah Monjurul Hoque, the filing lawyer of Abul Kashem, told The Daily Star that he filed the review petition with the SC on behalf of his client on May 7, as they got the copy of the full text of Appellate Division verdict on April 27.
He said that his client had prayed to the apex court to stay its verdict till disposal of the review petition.
Monjurul also said they could know from the media report yesterday that the Speaker to Jatiya Sangsad would administer oath to Mahmudul today.
The EC on May 7 declared Mahmudul Hasan elected MP, and cancelled candidacy of Abul Kashem, in line with the SC verdict that on February 14 declared Kashem a disqualified candidate for the 2008 polls, as he had been a loan defaulter then.
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