The executive committee election of the Brahmanbaria District Bar Association was suspended on Thursday night after allegations of discrepancies in ballot papers emerged during vote counting.
Chief Election Commissioner Abdul Malek announced the decision while counting was under way.
According to Bar Association sources, polling began at 10:30am and continued until 4pm.
Of the 689 eligible voters, 654 lawyers cast their ballots.
Vote counting began later in the evening and more than 200 ballots had already been counted between 9pm and 9:30pm.
During the counting process, independent candidate for the senior vice-president post Sudhir Chandra Ghosh submitted a written complaint to the chief election commissioner.
He alleged that the serial numbers printed on the ballot papers and their counterfoils were identical and requested the immediate suspension of both the election and the vote count.
The request was later supported verbally by Nationalist Lawyers Forum president candidate Abdur Rahman and general secretary candidate Anisur Rahman Manju.
Following the complaints, the chief election commissioner announced the suspension of both the vote counting and the election.
President candidate Brahmanbaria District Awami League Legal Affairs Secretary Md Mofizur Rahman Babul criticised the decision, saying the election had proceeded without any problem.
He said the chief election commissioner suspended the process during counting despite there being no irregularities and claimed the decision was outside the rules.
Chief Election Commissioner Abdul Malek said the authorities had conducted the election throughout the day and counted nearly 200 ballots before the complaints were raised.
“The election was suspended following an application. They alleged there was an error in the ballots, but in my opinion it was not a major problem,” he said.
He added that the counting process was halted because the situation no longer allowed a proper environment to continue the vote tally.
The election drew candidates from different political groups for the posts of president, vice-president and general secretary.
