The HC bench hearing the petitions was likely to deliver its order yesterday but counsels for the petitioners and the defence continued their submission till the end of court hours, delaying the process.

Newsmen were not allowed to enter the courtroom. Lawyers told them later chaos broke out during the submission of counsel for the respondents Advocate Khondker Mahbubuddin Ahmed. He argues that prolonging the hearing on the writ would destroy the process of justice.

His remark prompted the lawyers of the petitioners to protest it loudly. They shouted that it is rather the pro-government lawyers who destroyed the judiciary and courts by 'politicising' those.

Hearing of the two writ petitions, filed by Awami League lawmakers Rahmat Ali and Asaduzzaman Noor, and AL General Secretary Abdul Jalil on December 11, continued for the third day yesterday.

Mahbubuddin submitted some papers relating to voter lists of 1990, 1995 and 2000, as ordered by the court on Monday.

Counsel for the petitioners Barrister M Amir-Ul Islam submitted that the Election Commission (EC) secretariat is making the voter list ignoring the relevant laws and the tradition.

"The format of the voter list has been made in such a way that names of the absentee voters will be excluded from the list and their constitutional rights of being voters will be infringed. Irregularities and illegalities will take place in making the fresh voter list," he said.

"Two members of the Election Commission have differed thrice on making a fresh voter list. The BNP-Jamaat men appointed by the Election Commission secretariat on political grounds are now making the voter list. Vote banks of the opposition and voters of the minority community in different places of the country will not be included if the fresh voter list is made by those political elements," he said in his submission.

Mahbubuddin, counsel for the CEC and the EC secretariat, submitted that if the court passed any stay order on the writ petition, the entire process of preparing a fresh voter list would be spoiled.

As the court started passing its order, Amir-Ul Islam, and Barrister Tanjib Ul Alam, associate of Dr Kamal Hossain, told the court that they would make more submissions on the records of the EC secretariat concerning previous voter lists.

Dr Kamal, one of the counsels for the petitioners, will make his submission before the court today as he was out of the city yesterday.

"Even if the election commissioners decide to go for preparing a new voter list, they cannot deny constitutional rights of the citizens since law does not allow the commission (EC) to delete the name of a voter unless he or she is dead or become insane," Tanjib submitted.

The new voter list must recognise every citizen's right to cast vote in accordance with law, he said.