The Bangladesh Lawyers Council has alleged that the Dhaka Bar Association election was neither fair nor acceptable due to widespread irregularities and fake voting. In a statement sent to the media on Friday, the council’s secretary, Matiur Rahman Akand, claimed that inconsistencies in forming the election commission allowed fake votes to be cast, which the commission failed to prevent. He said some voters found their votes had already been cast, and incidents of vote tampering occurred inside several booths.

According to the statement, irregularities and bias were present at every stage of the election process. Traditionally, the chief election commissioner is selected by mutual consent of both panels, and the commission is formed with equal representation. However, this procedure was reportedly not followed this time. The council alleged that the commission was dominated by the BNP-backed blue panel, making the election questionable.

The statement further claimed that improper voter verification, ballot distribution without voter slips, and pre-cast votes undermined credibility. It concluded that due to overall irregularities and bias, the election lost trust among lawyers.