Writ petition filed challenging 12 Feb referendum results

A writ petition has been filed with the High Court seeking to annul the results of the nationwide referendum held on 12 February.

The petition, submitted on Tuesday by Supreme Court lawyer ABM Ataul Majid Touhid, challenges the legality and validity of the poll outcome.

The petition lists the chief election commissioner, the cabinet secretary, and the law secretary as respondents. It has been filed as a public interest litigation, with the petitioner urging the court to declare the referendum results void.

Court sources indicated that a High Court bench headed by Justice Fatema Najib is likely to take up the matter next week.

The referendum, conducted across the country, saw voters cast ballots on a proposed constitutional change.

According to the Election Commission, 60.26 per cent of eligible voters participated in the poll. The results were officially announced on 13 February by Senior Secretary of the Election Commission Secretariat Akhtar Ahmed, at a press briefing at the commission’s headquarters in Agargaon, Dhaka.

Official figures show that 48,074,429 voters supported the proposal, while 22,565,627 opposed it. The writ petition calls into question the integrity of the voting process and seeks judicial intervention to nullify the announced results.

The case is expected to draw significant attention given the political implications of the referendum and the ongoing debates about constitutional reforms.