After years of legal battle and days of rigorous hearing, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has finally fixed June 1 as the date for delivering its verdict on the appeal filed by Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami challenging the cancellation of its registration as a political party and seeking the restoration of its electoral symbol, the scales.
A four-member bench of the Appellate Division led by Chief Justice Dr Syed Refaat Ahmed reached the decision on Wednesday following the fourth day of hearing. Jamaat's legal team was represented by Barrister Ehsan Abdullah Siddique along with Advocate Mohammad Shishir Manir, Barrister Imrar Abdullah Siddique and Barrister Nazim Momen, while lawyer Touhidul Islam appeared on behalf of the Election Commission.
Manir briefed the media after the session expressing optimism. "The Appellate Division has completed the hearing on our appeal against the High Court's verdict that declared Jamaat-e-Islami's registration illegal. We expect the court will restore our registration.
We have also sought guidance on reclaiming our party symbol, the scales, which was barred from electoral use following a Supreme Court administrative decision," he said. "We believe the ruling on June 1 will clarify the symbol issue alongside the registration."
The ongoing case traces back to a writ petition filed in 2009 by Syed Rezaul Haque Chandpuri and 25 others challenging the legitimacy of Jamaat's registration. Following years of proceedings on August 1, 2013, a three-member larger bench of the High Court declared the party's registration invalid in a majority opinion. A dissenting judge, however, recommended the Election Commission expedite Jamaat's fresh registration application.
Jamaat immediately filed a certificate of appeal against the verdict, which later turned into a full appeal. The party also filed an additional petition requesting the reinstatement of its iconic electoral symbol. The symbol issue gained complexity after a decision during a Full Court meeting of the Supreme Court in 2016, which resolved that the scales would be reserved solely for representing justice in the court's monogram. Following that, the Supreme Court administration formally requested the Election Commission not to allocate the symbol to any individual, institution or political party.
Election Commission's counsel Touhidul Islam reiterated the institutional stance during the hearing, saying the issue of registration and the symbol should be treated separately. He said, "The scales have been removed from the list of symbols based on the Supreme Court's full court resolution. The registration matter is unrelated to the symbol issue. Jamaat may apply for another available symbol under existing laws."
Jamaat's lawyers disputed this interpretation. Siddique argued that Jamaat contested national elections for decades using the symbol and that its sudden withdrawal alongside the registration cancellation represented an unprecedented move in Bangladesh's political history. He emphasized that the party had been severely affected by an administrative order based not on electoral law but on institutional policy.
On November 19, 2023, the Appellate Division dismissed Jamaat's appeal due to the absence of a lawyer from the appellant's side. Jamaat later submitted an application seeking to revive the appeal, which was accepted by the court on October 22 of the same year. This paved the way for the latest hearings, which began on December 3 and continued intermittently until this week.
A related application about the allocation of symbols was filed by Jamaat in the Chamber Judge Court of the Appellate Division on May 12 and was subsequently tagged with the main appeal for joint hearing on May 13. The hearing resumed on May 14, culminating in the court fixing June 1 as the date for the verdict.
Shishir Manir further said, "Our arguments were heard attentively by the court. We remain hopeful that justice will be served on June 1. Jamaat will regain its rightful place in national politics with registration and symbol restored."
