BNP-backed lawyers storm to 13 of 14 posts in Supreme Court Bar election

The BNP-backed Jatiotabadi Ainjibi Oikya panel (Blue Panel) has secured a thumping victory in the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) elections for the 2026-2027 term, bagging 13 out of 14 executive posts.

Retired justice Miftah Uddin Choudhury, the convenor of the election sub-committee, announced the results late Thursday night.

AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon and Mohammad Ali emerged victorious as president and secretary respectively.

The pro-Jamaat-e-Islami Green Panel saw only one of its candidates, Md Azim Uddin Patwari, voted in as a member.

The pro-BNP Blue Panel’s successful run included both vice-president slots, with Md Magfur Rahman Sheikh and Md Shahjahan taking the roles, while Md Ziaur Rahman was elected treasurer.

Maksud Ullah and Md Shamsul Islam Mukul secured the two assistant secretary positions.

In the battle for seven member seats, the Blue Panel made a near-clean sweep, with HM Shanjid Siddique, AKM Azad Hossain, Md Kabir Hossain, Md Tipu Sultan, Md Zia Uddin Mia, and Wahid Afroz Chowdhury all crossing the finish line.

The polls took place on May 13 and 14 at the association auditorium, with voting open from 10am to 5pm daily.

The turnout, however, was noticeably thin. Out of 11,097 eligible voters, only 4,048 cast their ballots, representing a mere 36.48 percent.

According to election statistics, the highest turnout came in the 2020-2021 term, when 5,940 votes were cast from 7,781 voters.

In the 2023-2024 election, 4,137 votes were cast out of 8,602 registered voters.

Despite the voter list crossing 11,000 this year, less than half took part in the election.

Speaking on Thursday, Chief Election Commissioner Miftah Uddin linked the lower turnout to changes in the election atmosphere.

He said the environment in previous years had more festivity and light political noise, but not the chaos and clashes seen later.

While criticising the disorder that marked several recent Bar elections, he said this year’s vote passed off without any major untoward incident

The election had already drawn controversy before voting began after more than 40 candidates had their nominations cancelled.

The candidates were barred over allegations of links with the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League and its affiliated organisations.

Those disqualified claimed their candidacies were scrapped unlawfully on instructions from “higher authorities” without any show-cause notice or open scrutiny process.

They argued the move went against the Bar Association constitution and was politically motivated.

At the time, Miftah said the responsibility for scrutiny rested with the current secretary under the Bar constitution and he neither knew nor wanted to know who had been excluded.

BNP-backed lawyers, meanwhile, said an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) had decided to bar Awami League-aligned lawyers from taking part in the election following demands from “July warriors” and lawyers.

The election schedule had been pushed back after an initial date in March was scrapped.

During an EGM on Mar 1, presided over by Mahbub Uddin, the new dates were set for May.

In the 2024 elections, the BNP-leaning lawyers had won only four posts, including the presidency, while the then Awami League-backed panel dominated with 10 positions.