Jamaat-e-Islami says it’s surprised by the Election Commission’s gazette notification scrapping its registration as a political party.
In a statement sent to the media on Tuesday, Secretary General Shafiqur Rahman cited their plea pending with the Appellate Division against the High Court’s decision and said that the EC cannot cancel Jamaat’s registration as it was a sub judice matter.
Describing the EC’s decision as ‘politically motivated’, the party said it tantamount to contempt of court.
“We are surprised by the move,” reads the statement.
Condemning the move, Rahman called the EC to withdraw the gazette notification.
Five years after the High Court ruled that the Jamaat’s status as a political party be revoked, the Election Commission executed the orders in a gazette on Monday.
The gazette dated Sunday says the party’s registration has been cancelled following the Representation of the People Order as ordered by the court.
The EC started registering the political parties for the first time during the 2006-07 military-backed caretaker administration before the 2008 elections.
Jamaat, which had representation in parliament, got registered along with 37 other parties at the time.
Only the registered parties are allowed in elections following the law.
In 2009, twenty-five people, including Bangladesh Tariqat Federation’s Secretary General Syed Rezaul Haque Chandpuri, Jaker Party’s Secretary General Munshi Abdul Latif and Sammilita Islami Jote’s President Ziaul Hasan moved the High Court challenging Jamaat’s registration.
In August 2013, the court declared Jamaat’s registration illegal and void, barring it from contesting in the general election next year.
The 20-party BNP-Jamaat alliance, however, boycotted the 2014 election demanding a nonpartisan polls-time administration.
Last year, the EC dropped Jamaat’s logo ‘weighing scale’ from the electoral symbols following the Supreme Court’s orders.