HC questions Jebunnesa's election as MP

The High Court yesterday questioned the qualification of ruling Awami League lawmaker Jebunnesa Afroz, who won the by-election to Barisal-5 constituency on June 15, following a writ petition over her alleged pre-election offences.
The court issued a rule upon the Election Commission to explain in four weeks why its failure to disqualify Jebunnesa from being elected as an MP should not be declared illegal and why it should not be directed to disqualify her from being elected for her pre-election offences.
The HC bench of Justice Zinat Ara and Justice SH Md Nurul Huda Jaigirdar issued the rule after hearing the petition filed by Bangladesh Nationalist Front's (BNF) Saiful Islam Liton, the lone rival candidate of Jebunnesa. Saiful filed the petition on June 8.
Citing from the petition, Saiful's lawyer Ruhul Kuddus Kazal told reporters that Jebunnesa, wife of deceased AL lawmaker Shawkat Hossain Hiron, threatened and forced independent candidate Syed Moazzem Hossain to withdraw from the by-election. She won the election through vote rigging and using information about the voters of the independent candidate, the lawyer said.
According to law, an independent candidate has to supply a list of voters in support of his candidacy, and only the returning officer is supposed to know the information.
Saiful's lawyer said Jebunnesa got the information from the returning officer and tried to have Moazzem disqualified by finding faults with those voters.