M. A. Aziz (born 30 September 1939) is a former judge of the

Supreme Court of Bangladesh The Supreme Court of Bangladesh ( bn, বাংলাদেশ সুপ্রীম কোর্ট) is the highest court of law in Bangladesh. It is composed of the High Court Division and the Appellate Division, and was created by Part VI C ...

and former

Chief Election Commissioner of Bangladesh The Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) ( bn, বাংলাদেশের প্রধান নির্বাচন কমিশনার) heads the Election Commission of Bangladesh, a body constitutionally empowered to conduct free and fai ...

Early life

Aziz was born on 30 September 1939 in Amboula,

Agailjhara Upazila Agailjhara ( bn, আগৈলঝাড়া) is an upazila (sub-district) of southern Bangladesh's Barisal District, part of the Barisal Division. Geography Agailjhara Upazila covers 155.47 km2. It is located between 22°54' and 23°03' nort ...

Barisal District Barisal District, officially spelled Barishal District from April 2018, is a district in south-central Bangladesh, formerly called Bakerganj district, established in 1797. Its headquarters are in the city of Barisal, which is also the headqua ...

East Bengal ur, , common_name = East Bengal , status = Province of the Dominion of Pakistan , p1 = Bengal Presidency , flag_p1 = Flag of British Bengal.svg , s1 = East ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. He completed Matriculation in 1956, and in 1958 completed his Higher Secondary Certificate. He finished his bachelor's degree in history at the

University of Dhaka The University of Dhaka (also known as Dhaka University, or DU) is a public research university located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is the oldest university in Bangladesh. The university opened its doors to students on July 1st 1921. Currently i ...

in 1961 and Masters in 1962. In 1969, he was called to bar at law at the

Honourable Society of the Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and W ...

in London, United Kingdom. He started his practice at the High Court.

Career

In 1986, Aziz became a judge at the Bangladesh High Court in June 1996. In January 2003, Aziz and justice Nazrul Islam Chowdhury declared the detention of Tofail Ahmed, a politician of the Awami League, who was arrested in December 2002. On 7 January 2004, Aziz was promoted to the Appellate Division of the Bangladesh Supreme Court. This was controversial as his promotion superseded Judge Syed Amirul Islam. On 22 May 2005, Aziz was appointed Chief Election Commissioner of Bangladesh overseeing the

Bangladesh Election Commission The Bangladesh Election Commission ( bn, বাংলাদেশ নির্বাচন কমিশন), abbreviated and publicly referred to as EC, is an independent constitutional body that operates the legal functions of election laws in ...

. There were street protests demanding his resignation as opposition parties did not believe he would be neutral during the election. Aziz resigned from the post of Chief Election Commissioner following political unrest in Bangladesh and the Bangladesh Awami League not accepting his position. The creation of the voter list during his term was marred in controversy as it faced accusation of being partisan and corruption. He meet chairperson of Bangladesh Nationalist Party,

Khaleda Zia Khaleda Zia (; born Khaleda Khanam Putul in 1945) is a Bangladeshi politician who served as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh from March 1991 to March 1996, and again from June 2001 to October 2006. She was the first female prime minister of Ba ...

, in 2008 which the media speculated was for seeking a nomination from the party. ATM Shamsul Huda replaced him as the next chief election commissioner.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aziz, M. A. 1939 births Living people People from Barisal District University of Dhaka alumni Bangladeshi barristers Chief Election Commissioners of Bangladesh Bangladeshi judges