The Appellate Division is set to deliver an order on Tuesday, regarding an application seeking to stay a High Court verdict that validated the candidacy of Sarowar Alamgir, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) elected candidate for the Chattogram-2 constituency.
A four-member bench of the Appellate Division, headed by the chief justice, conducted the hearing on Monday.
The application, filed by Muhammad Nurul Amin, the Jamaat-e-Islami candidate from the same constituency, also seeks an injunction to prevent Sarowar Alamgir from participating in parliamentary activities until the disposal of the appeal.
Advocates Ahsanul Karim and AM Mahbub Uddin Khokan represented Sarowar Alamgir in court, while advocates Mohammad Shishir Monir and Azim Uddin Patwary appeared for Nurul Amin.
The legal battle began after the returning officer initially declared Sarowar Alamgir’s nomination valid. Following this, rival candidate Nurul Amin appealed to the Election Commission (EC), alleging that Alamgir was a loan defaulter.
On 18 January, the EC cancelled Alamgir’s nomination after a hearing. Sarowar Alamgir challenged the EC’s decision in the High Court.
On 27 January, the High Court stalled the EC’s order and issued a rule, allowing Alamgir to contest the 13th Parliamentary Election. Nurul Amin subsequently filed a leave to appeal with the Appellate Division, which was granted on 3 February.
At that time, the court permitted Alamgir to participate in the election but directed that the official results be stayed until the appeal was resolved.
In the election held on 12 February, Sarowar Alamgir was unofficially elected; however, the results remained unpublished due to the court’s directive.
On 16 June, following the appeal hearing, the Appellate Division directed the High Court to dispose of the rule as quickly as possible, preferably within two weeks, while maintaining the interim stay on the results.
On 9 July, the High Court declared the rule absolute, ruling Sarowar Alamgir’s candidacy as valid.
Following this verdict, the Election Commission published the gazette notification that same day, and Sarowar Alamgir was sworn in as a Member of Parliament in the evening.
On 13 July, Nurul Amin filed an application with the relevant branch of the Supreme Court’s Appellate Division to stay the High Court’s judgment.
The application noted that the Election Commission had gazetted and administered the oath to Sarowar Alamgir before the written copy of the High Court’s verdict was even released.
