Dhaka, Jun 25: Bangladesh Election Commission has reinstated the registration and symbol of the rightwing Jamaat-e-Islami party, according to a local media report.
The announcement was made on Tuesday through a gazette notification signed by Senior Secretary of Election Commission Akhtar Ahmed, Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha reported.
Bangladesh’s Supreme Court on June 1 ordered the Election Commission to restore the rightwing Jamaat-e-Islami’s party registration, nearly eight months after the interim government lifted a ban on it, clearing the way for its participation in future elections.
The EC scrapped the registration of Jamaat, which was opposed to Bangladesh’s 1971 independence from Pakistan, in December 2018 in line with a High Court ruling.
In 2013, the Bangladesh Supreme Court cancelled the registration of the Jamaat-e-Islami, ruling that the party was unfit to contest national elections.
Former prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s government slapped a total ban on the party days ahead of her ouster on August 5, 2024, in a violent mass movement led by a platform called Students against Discrimination (SAD). Jaamaat and several other parties had backed SAD.
After Sheikh Hasina’s ouster, the party appealed for a review of the 2013 court order banning it. (PTI)
