The Supreme Court full bench headed by Chief Justice Syed JR Modassir Husain upheld the stay order on the high-profile election symbol dispute after three days of hectic hearing.

The bench directed both parties to move to the High Court which will now hold a hearing on June 12 on its rule upon the Election Commission and the returning officer (RO).

The rule asked them to explain why allocation of election symbol 'bench' instead of 'Kula' to Bikalpa Dhara candidate Abdul Mannan should not be declared illegal and why the EC should not be directed to allocate 'Kula'.

Barrister Rokanuddin Mahmud, lawyer of the candidate in the Ramna-Tejgaon constituency, who won the legal battle, termed the verdict historical. Barrister Rafiq-Ul Haq and Barrister Tanjib Ul-Alam also stood for Mannan in the case.

With the timely verdict, the Supreme Court saved the nation from another farcical by-election like the one in Magura in 1994 during the BNP rule, Rokan said.

The Supreme Court upheld its image and proved that it is always ready to deliver in favour of justice without any hesitation, Rokan added.

Mannan, also a retired army major who resigned from parliament as lawmaker and the ruling BNP on March 10, termed the judgement "a victory for people and democracy against conspiracy".

The BNP-led four-party alliance has pitted Mosaddak Ali Falu, former political secretary to the prime minister, against Mannan.

TH Khan, the counsel of the appellants, accepted the verdict, but said it was not told why the prayer was rejected. There was no other court above the full bench, so they had to accept the judgement, Khan added.

Legal experts say the fate of the by-poll will be decided at the High Court and it is likely to face more legal tangles once the court disposes of the case.

There would however still be scope for filing leave-to-appeal petition against the judgement, and filing of such a petition will further delay by-polls.

COURTROOM SUSPENSE

The Supreme Court bench sat at 9:10am yesterday to hear the arguments of both sides and heard the lawyers' submission for one and a half hours before adjourning for 10 minutes.

Counsels of both sides, curious lawyers, representatives of candidates, Election Commission officials and newspersons streamed into the court in animated suspense.

After the break, the chief justice delivered the verdict at 11:00am.

HOW THE DRAMA UNFOLDED

The legal tangle surfaced in the wake of refusal by the RO of Dhaka-10 to allocate "Kula" to Mannan. The refusal prompted Mannan to file a writ petition with the High Court on May 23.

A division bench of the High Court directed the RO to reconsider allocation of "Kula" to Mannan. But the RO refused again on the grounds that the election law did not allow a reconsideration of the issue.

Mannan again moved the High Court and received a stay order on the by-election until June 12. The same day, the EC officials lodged an appeal against the stay order with the chamber judge who referred the matter to the chief justice.

The chief justice formed a special bench of the Appellate Division in the same night to hear the appeal. The special bench however referred it to the full bench on May 29 after hearing the matter for two days.

The full bench that started hearing the appeal on Sunday found flaws in filing the appeal.

The Bikalpa Dhara candidate has all along been alleging flaws in filing the appeal since it was lodged, but the appellants said those were minor.

Things took a dramatic turn when Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) MA Syed denied to have signed the warrant of attorney or the EC's approving the move.

The court then summoned the EC file and found that it had the signed approval of the CEC. A flabbergasted CEC insisted that he knew nothing about EC's approving the move to file the appeal.