Supporters of Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader Ishraque Hossain continued their demonstrations for the second consecutive day and locked the main gate of the Dhaka South City Corporation headquarters on Thursday, demanding that he be sworn in as the city mayor.
The Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives, meanwhile, on Thursday sent a letter to the Law and Justice Division seeking an opinion on whether there is any legal complication in taking the next course of action as per the court verdict declaring Ishraque as mayor, said LGRD press release issued on Thursday.
DSCC officials and employees could not enter the headquarters or carry out their work as protesters locked the gate in the morning, said DSCC officials on Thursday.聽
During a visit to the DSCC headquarters at around 4:00pm, the main gate was found locked, with several banners bearing the protesters鈥� demands stuck on the walls, belonging to Dhakabashi (Residents of Dhaka), Dhaka South City Corporation Sramik Karmachari Union (integrated with Jatiyatabadi Shramik Dal), and Biddut Karmachari Samajkallayan Samity.
Protesters left the DSCC premises after 1:00pm, said Mokbul Islam Tipu, former ward councillor of ward 40 under the DSCC and one of the protest leaders.
He told 抖阴精品 that the demonstration would continue until their demand was met.
He said that although there was no legal barrier since the Election Commission issued a gazette notification declaring Ishraque, a member of the BNP鈥檚 foreign affairs committee, as mayor following a court verdict, he was yet to be given the responsibilities.
鈥榃e want Ishraque as the Dhaka South mayor for the wellbeing of the city dwellers,鈥� Mokbul said.
He said that a sit-in and a protest rally were planned for May 17 starting from 10:00am, but they would decide on the same day whether to lock Nagar Bhaban again, depending on the situation.
The DSCC Sramik-Karmachari Union president Md Arif Chowdhury told 抖阴精品 that they expressed solidarity with the protest that had been carried out by former BNP ward commissioners, ward councillors, former bureaucrats, and city dwellers.
Earlier, on March 27, Dhaka鈥檚 first joint district and election tribunal judge, Md Nurul Islam, declared Ishraq Hossain as the rightful mayor, annulling the results of the 2020 Dhaka South City Corporation elections that had declared Fazle Noor Taposh as the winner.
Later on April 27, the EC issued a gazette notification declaring him as the mayor.
On April 28, two Dhaka residents, including writ petitioner Mamunur Rashid, sent legal notices to the authorities concerned to appeal or review the verdict and decree given by the Election Tribunal declaring Ishraque as the mayor.
The notices also asked the authorities to refrain from publishing gazettes in the name of Ishraque and administering oaths to him.
