A brawl and a recount later, Dulal is declared secretary of SCBA

Lawyers from both sides of the political divide engaged in a fistfight with each other at the Supreme Court premises centring on the results of the Supreme Court Bar Association elections that took place over a month ago.

The lawyers also vandalised the window glasses of the conference hall during the brawl which kicked off in the afternoon.

Former additional attorney general Md Momtaz Uddin Fakir and Dulal were vying for the posts of president and secretary, respectively, from the panel of lawyers loyal to the Awami League.

Md Bodruddoza Badal was the presidential candidate for the BNP-backed panel while Ruhul Quddus Kazal was its secretary candidate.

On Mar 17, right before Momtaz and Kazal were declared winners, the Awami League-backed panel had filed an application with an election sub-committee, demanding a recount of the ballots.

The sub-committee had decided to pause the announcement of the results, and its chair AY Mashiuzzaman stepped down.

At a press conference on Tuesday, the pro-Awami League lawyers, led by former SCBA vice-president Md Ozi Ullah, announced the formation of a new seven-strong election sub-committee for the recount of the ballots that were kept in the association’s conference hall.

On Wednesday, a group of lawyers loyal to the opposition BNP intercepted a group of ruling Awami League-supporting lawyers, who were attempting to enter the conference hall to recount the ballots.

Kazal dismissed the legitimacy of the new election sub-committee and the recount, claiming that Ozi Ullah and his group have no jurisdiction to conduct a recount as no such decision was made in any of the recent association meetings.