At least 24 people, including lawyers and journalists, were injured on Wednesday in police action on Supreme Court premises as lawyers from the ruling Awami League and the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party locked in chaos over election to the Supreme Court Bar Association.
At least 10 journalists were injured while covering the police action to disperse the candidates of BNP-backed panel from the polling station as the panel, led by AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon and Ruhul Quddus Kazal, demanded that the polling should be rescheduled.
Pro-AL lawyers were adamant to start the polling at 10:00am while pro-BNP lawyers staged protests in the voting room for the suspension of the two-day polling until the formation of an election conducting committee led by a neutral person.
Pro-AL lawyer Mansurul Hoque Chowdhury resigned as the convener of the election steering committee over the row if the election votes would be counted in EVM machine provided by the Dhaka Club.
BNP candidates supported the EVM while AL candidates opposed it.
Election steering committee member Maniruzzaman filed a case with the Shahbagh police station on Wednesday evening naming 11 lawyers, including Mahbub Uddin Khokon and Ruhul Quddus Kazal, accusing them of violence, and damaging electoral materials and stealing ballots.
The situation turned chaotic at about 11:45am after the police charged batons on lawyers and journalists, witnesses said.
They said that at one stage of altercation among the candidates over the deferral of the election schedule AL candidates along with several hundred police entered the polling station and police started charging baton to disperse the pro-BNP lawyers.
BNP candidates chanted slogans against the police action.
Some lawyers’ cubicles were vandalised during the police action on pro-BNP lawyers, who tried to prevent pro-AL lawyers from casting vote, the witnesses said.
Police also beat pro-BNP panel’s president and secretary candidates Mahbub Uddin Khokon and Ruhul Quddus Kajal respectively, the witnesses said.
The polling, however, started two hours later than the schedule after the police forced BNP candidates out of the polling station, they said.
None but pro-AL lawyers were seen to cast their votes while Pro-BNP lawyers apparently boycotted the election without giving any announcement.
General lawyers were not seen in the polling station, which remained largely during most of the polling hours.
Election committee member Khan Md Shamim Aziz at 5:00pm said that 2,217 of the 8,602 voters casted vote on the first day of the polling.
A seven-member sub-committee, led by Mansurul Haque Chowdhury, was formed earlier for conducting the election. As he resigned on March 13, the SCBA, dominated by the pro-AL Sammilita Ainjibi Samonnoy Parishad, formed a sub-committee led by Maniruzzaman.
The SCBA leaders from the pro-BNP Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Oikya Panel formed another committee headed by ASM Moktar Kabir.
Pro-BNP lawyers also alleged that about 3,000 ballots were taken away by pro-AL lawyers sometime on Tuesday night for stuffing.
The law enforcers attacked journalists when they were taking photos and videos of police action on the protesting lawyers, injured journalists and witnesses told The Daily Star.
Several pro-BNP lawyers were also hurt in the incident.
The injured journalists include Jabed Akter of ATN News, SM Nur Mohammad of Ajker Patrika, Prothom Alo photo journalist Shubhra Kanti Das, multimedia reporter of Daily Manab Zamin Abdullah Al Maruf, ATN Bangla camera person Humayun Kabir, DBC camera persons Mehedi Hasan and Baishakhi TV camera person Ibrahim.
BNP president candidate Mahbub Uddin Khokan along with senior BNP lawyers, at a press briefing on the SC compound sought the chief justice’s intervention in the election.
The chief justice cannot avoid his responsibility as BNP candidates with senior lawyers met him on four occasions seeking his intervention, Mahbub Uddin said.
‘Stop such illegal activities in the name of SCBA election’, he urged the chief justice.
He also demanded a fresh election schedule with reconstruction of the election steering committee.
Khokan said that lawyers would continue movement to resist the illegal election.
BNP secretary candidate Ruhul Quddus Kazal said that Wednesday’s incident once again proved that no election in Bangladesh could be free and fair as long as Sheikh Hasina’s government is in power.
The last nail on the coffin of election has been put in the SCBA election, he said.
