Supreme Court lawyer Mohammad Ataul Majid submitted the petition as a public interest litigation, contending that the Constitution does not provide for referendums and that the Election Commission lacks the authority to conduct one
A Supreme Court lawyer on Tuesday filed a writ petition with the High Court challenging the legality of the nationwide referendum held on February 12 and seeking cancellation of its results announced the following day.
According to a Daily Star report, advocate Mohammad Ataul Majid submitted the petition as a public interest litigation, contending that the Constitution does not provide for referendums and that the Election Commission lacks the authority to conduct one.
The petition requests the court to issue a rule asking the authorities to explain why the referendum should not be declared illegal and unconstitutional.
Speaking to The Daily Star, Ataul Majid described the referendum as “unconstitutional.”
He added that the High Court may hold a hearing on the petition next week.
In the referendum, the “Yes” vote secured 60.26 percent of the total votes cast. According to the Election Commission, 48,074,429 voters supported “Yes,” while 22,565,627 voted “No.”
BNP cries ‘deception’ over Charter
BNP had las year slammed the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government’s plan to implement the July Charter, aimed at institutionalising reforms in the wake of last year’s protests that ousted Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government, describing the move as “deception”.
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said the party was “astonished” to find that its dissenting notes were missing from the final report published by the National Consensus Commission in October last year.
He called the move a “deception” with both the people and political parties. Alamgir demanded immediate reinstatement of BNP’s dissenting views into the Charter, warning that ignoring them would undermine the spirit of national unity.
The July Charter was intended to reflect the aspirations of agitators during the violent street protests, dubbed as “July Uprising”, which led to Hasina’s ouster in August last year.
The document contains over 80 reform proposals for different sectors.
With inputs from agencies
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