The High Court has dismissed a writ petition that sought an order to prevent BNP leader Ishraq Hossain from taking oath as the mayor of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC). As a result, Ishraq’s lawyers have confirmed there are no legal barriers to his swearing-in. The bench of Justice Md Akram Hossain Chowdhury and Justice Debashish Roy Chowdhury issued the dismissal order on Thursday, May 22. Earlier, on May 14, a resident of Dhaka South, Md Mamunur Rashid, filed the petition requesting the court to bar Ishraq from being sworn in and also sought punitive measures against the trial judge who declared him mayor. The petition followed a verdict issued on March 27 by Dhaka’s First Joint District Judge and Election Tribunal, which nullified the 2020 election results that had declared Awami League candidate Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh the winner by nearly 200,000 votes, and instead named BNP’s Ishraq Hossain as the rightful mayor. Upon receiving a copy of the tribunal's judgment, the constitutional body sought advice from the law ministry on April 22 regarding gazette publication. Subsequently, on April 27, the Election Commission officially declared Ishraq Hossain as the new mayor of DSCC through a gazette. In support of Ishraq’s claim to the mayoral office, his supporters have been staging sit-ins in front of Nagar Bhaban and Matsya Bhaban over several days.