HC stays gazette announcing winner of Jhenaidah-1 polls

The High Court has stayed the Election Commission's gazette announcing Awami League candidate Abdul Hai as the winner of the Jhenaidah-1 seat in the polls held on 7 January.

The High Court bench, headed by Justice AKM Asaduzzaman, issued the order after hearing a petition filed by independent candidate Nazrul Islam Dulal.

Dulal alleged that the returning officer rigged the vote count and declared the boat candidate as the winner.

Lawyer Mojibur Rahman, who represented the petitioner in court, said, "At 4:30 pm on 7 January, the returning officer announced that 49% of the votes had been cast until 4 pm, and independent candidate Nazrul Islam was declared the winner by a margin of about 15,000 votes. However, on the next day, 8 January, the returning officer announced another result sheet, indicating that 58.27% of the votes had been cast, and the boat symbol candidate was declared the winner by a margin of 14,000 votes."

The lawyer added, "It is not possible to have 9% of votes cast after 4 pm. We have all the evidence in this regard."

He argued that the returning officer illegally declared the boat candidate as the winner by manipulating the vote count.

In addition to postponing the results, the court issued a ruling asking why the results of the Jhenaidah-1 seat should not be annulled.

The court has requested responses from 17 individuals, including the Election Commission Secretary and District Returning Officer, within the next four weeks.

The Election Commission published the gazette announcing Abdul Hai as the winner of the Jhenaidah-1 seat in the 7 January election.

Abdul Hai received 94,379 votes, while his nearest rival, independent candidate Nazrul Islam Dulal, garnered 80,547 votes with the truck symbol.