The Appellate Division on Tuesday dismissed the leave to appeal petition challenging the legality of oath taking of 290 Awami League lawmakers.

After hearing, a seven-member bench of the Appellate Division led by Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique passed the order today.

BNP leader Barrister Mahbub Uddin Khokon was present at the court on behalf of the petitioner.

The 11th national election was held on 30 December 2018 and the 290 members of parliaments took oath on January  3 ,2019.

The 10th parliamentary election was held on 5 January 2014. The elected MPs were sworn in on 9 January that year, and the first meeting of the parliament was held on 29 January.

According to Article 72 (3) of the Constitution, the term of parliament shall be counted for five years from the first sitting of parliament.

Considering this, lawyer Taherul Islam Towhid filed a writ petition with the High Court on January 20, challenging the validity of the oath.

He claimed that  the oath taking of the MPs of the  11th Parliament took place before the end of the term of the previous parliament.

On 18 February 2019, the High Court dismissed the writ petition in this regard. The writ petitioner then filed a leave-to-appeal petition against the High Court's order on 20 September 2019.