Latif’s JS membership: SC clears way for EC hearing

The Supreme Court today cleared the way for the Election Commission to hold a hearing on the dispute over the cancellation of the parliament membership of sacked minister Abdul Latif Siddique.

A four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha upheld the High Court order that rejected a writ petition filed by Latif.

In the petition, Latif challenged the EC’s decision to hear the dispute on cancelation of his parliamentary membership.

Latif’s lawyer Jyotirmoy Barua told The Daily Star that his client will appear before the EC for hearing today.

The High Court on August 20 upheld the EC’s decision to hear the dispute on cancelling Latif’s parliament membership.

The HC rejected the petition on the ground that the EC is proper authority to dissolve the dispute over the cancellation of Latif’s parliamentary membership, Additional Attorney General Murad Reza told reporters.    

On July 13, Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury sent a letter to the EC to decide the parliamentary membership of Latif as she received a letter from Awami League about his termination from the party on July 5.

The EC on August 9, fixed August 23 for hearing the dispute over the cancellation of Latif’s parliamentary membership.

The EC in its notice requested him and Awami League General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam to be present during the hearing at its Agargaon office in Dhaka.

Latif filed the writ petition with the HC on August 16 challenging the legality of EC’s notice.

The ruling AL terminated the his membership from the party on October 24 last year over his demeaning comment on hajj, Tablighi Jamaat and prime minister’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy at a New York programme on September 28 last year.

Following the remarks, Latif was sacked from the cabinet and from his position as the post and telecommunication minister on October 12, 2014. Later his presidium and primary membership in AL was also cancelled.