The High Court has scrapped BNP chief Khaleda Zia’s plea challenging Election Commission’s (EC) decision to cancel her nominations.

A three-time prime minister Khaleda, therefore, will not be able to contest the 11th parliamentary election slated for Dec 30, said lawyers.

The single bench of Justice JBM Hasan passed the rejection order on Tuesday (Dec 18).

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam moved for the EC while Khaleda had no counsels representing her.

On Dec 13, the BNP chief’s counsel expressed no confidence on the HC bench formed to hear the pleas, after which they were directed to file a written application voicing the matter.

However, during the hearing on Monday, her counsel said that they haven’t been able to affidavit the application and asked for more time after which the court deferred the hearing date.

Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain fixed the single bench of Justice JBM Hassan on Wednesday (Dec 12) to dispose of the former prime minister’s petitions as a HC bench had previously issued a split verdict on the matter.

On Tuesday (Dec 11), the bench of justices Syed Refaat Ahmed and Md Iqbal Kabir heard all three of Khaleda’s writs challenging the EC’s decision to scrap her nominations for three parliamentary races.

The bench issued a divided order with Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed issuing a rule directing the EC to accept Khaleda’s nomination.

On the other hand, Justice Iqbal Kabir upheld the EC’s decision blocking Khaleda from contesting the polls slated for Dec 30. The matter was then passed over to the chief justice for final decision.

On Dec 2, the returning officers scrapped all three of the former prime minister’s nomination in the Feni-1, Bogra-6 and 7 constituencies on grounds of her jail term.

Khaleda later appealed the decision with the Election Commission on Dec 8, but her petition was rejected after which she moved the HC on Dec 9.

The former premier is currently serving a 10-year term in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case.