HC halts EC gazette for 3 months
August 8, 2008
Delimitation of 84 parliamentary constituencies
HC halts EC gazette for 3 months
Staff Correspondent.
The High Court has stayed for three months the gazette notification issued on July 10 by the Election Commission after finalising delimitation of 84 parliamentary constituencies across the country.
A Division Bench comprising Justice Khademul Islam Chowdhury and Mashuk Hossain Ahmed passed the judgment as former MP of Dhaka -2 (Nababganj) Abdul Mannan filed a writ petition of which filing lawyer was the petitioner’s daughter Barrister Mehnaz Mannan.
The Court also issued a Rule on the Chief Election Commissioner, Election Commissioners, EC Secretary and Principal Secretary to the CA asking them to show cause within two weeks as to why the gazette on July 10 shall not be declared to have been issued without lawful authority and of no legal effect.
The contention of the petitioner was that as per law the EC cannot initiate any delimitation after preparation of voter list because a person has an exclusive right and freedom to be voter in the constituency which he prefers to. So he/she should be included in the voter list after delimitation of constituency, not before. But instead of delimitating constituencies before preparation of voter lists, it delimitated those at a time when 99 percent of voter enrolment is finished. The function of the Election Commission was to hold the election within 90 days, not to delimit constituencies, claimed the petitioner.
Talking to The Bangladesh Today, petitioner’s counsel Barrister Nasir Uddin Ahmed Ashim said as per Article 122 of the Constitution-it is the onus of the EC to delimitate constituency first and then prepare voter list and thus so delimitating 84 constituencies after finishing 99 percent voter roll, the EC has flouted the Constitution.
About the implication of HC verdict, he said that although the EC gazette in respect of delimitation of constituencies has been stayed for three months but there will be no ill effect of this order on holding of the parliament polls in the scheduled time-and such general election will be held on the basis of the previously delimitated constituencies.
Earlier on May 12, another similar type of writ petition was filed challenging the EC’s gazette notification dated April 29 delimitating 133 constituencies and the Court issued Rule. When the Rule was pending, the EC received a lot of applications from different parts of the country praying for cancelling delimitation of those specific constituencies and after disposing of objections the EC finally effected the delimitation of 84 constituencies by a gazette dated July 10 last.
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