Senior Supreme Court lawyer Advocate Shishir Monir has announced that he will challenge in court a petition seeking to suspend the results of the national referendum.
In a post on his verified Facebook page on Tuesday (February 17), he stated that the petition will be contested in court, saying, “We will contest the petition seeking to suspend the validity of the referendum results in court, Insha’Allah.”
Earlier, a writ was filed on February 13 in the High Court challenging the validity of the referendum held on February 12 and seeking cancellation of its results. The writ was submitted by Supreme Court lawyer A B M Ataul Majid Touhid in the public interest.
The petition names the Chief Election Commissioner, Cabinet Secretary, and Law Secretary as respondents. A hearing before a High Court bench led by Justice Fatema Nazeeb may take place next week.
In the February 12 referendum, the “Yes” vote in favor of the proposed change won, with a voter turnout of 60.26 percent nationwide.
On February 13, a briefing at the Election Commission Secretariat in Agargaon, Dhaka, conducted by Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed, announced that 48,074,429 voters supported the change (“Yes”), while 22,565,627 voted against it (“No”).
