52 vie for Bar Council posts
A total of 52 lawyers are vying for 14 posts of council member in the election to Bangladesh Bar Council, the highest regulatory body of lawyers in the country, scheduled for November 20.
Sources said about 29,121 lawyers registered with the Bar Council are expected to cast votes across the country to elect the 14 council members.
The elected members will select one among them as the Bar Council's vice chairman who discharges the duties of its chief executive.
The attorney general, the top law official of the government, functions as ex-officio chairman of the Bar Council.
Sammilita Ainjibi Samannoy Parishad (SASP), a forum of pro-Awami League lawyers, and Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Oikya Parishad (JAOP), a body of BNP-led four party alliance backed lawyers, have already selected their panels.
The Supreme Court lawyers said the main contest would be between the two panels.
The candidates will soon start their election campaigns at the bars across the country, they said.
President of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Barrister Shafique Ahmed is leading the SASP panel while senior lawyer of the Supreme Court Advocate ABM Nurul Islam is leading the JAOP panel.
The SASP candidates are -- Shafique Ahmed, Abdul Baset Majumder, Syed Rezaur Rahman, Parimal Chandra Guha, ZI Khan Panna, Md Kamrul Islam, M Enayetur Rahim, Mohammad Israfil, AHM Khalequzzaman, AM Anwarul Kabir, Md Mesbahuddin Siraj, MA Hakim Hawlader, Md Yahiya and Md Al-Mahmud.
The JAOP panel includes ABM Nurul Islam, Md Helaluddin Mollah, Mohammad Ashraf-uz- Zaman, Shah Ilias Ratan, Md Shahjada, Amatun Noor Begum (Panna), Shihab Uddin Mahmud, Khan Farhad Uddin Ahmed, Md Nazrul Islam-1, Syed Salah Uddin Ahmed, Md Kaimul Huq, Abdul Malek, Md Moniruzzaman and Badrul Islam Chunnu.
The polling will be held from 10:00am to 5:00pm on the premises of Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) and all the civil courts in districts and also Bajitpur, Ishwarganj, Durgapur, Bhanga, Chikandi, Patia, Satkania, Fatikchhari, Sandwip, Hatia, Nabinagar and Paikgachha Police Stations.
The Bar Council election was held last time in May 2004 and the tenure of the elected committee expired on June 30, 2007.
An ad hoc Bar Council appointed by the present caretaker government has been functioning since then.
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