Amid countrywide demonstrations by the main opposition Awami League (AL) against the move to prepare a fresh electoral roll, over two lakh enumerators recruited controversially begin today the weeklong process of

collecting information about the prospective voters.

Meanwhile, the High Court is scheduled toheartomorrowthc two writ petitions challenging the legality of tile preparation of a fresh roll following the unilateral decision of the chief election commissioner (CEC) tomorrow.

Alongside the petitions filed by its lawmakers, AL will stage demonstrations across the country to protest CEC MA Aziz's decision to have a fresh voter list, ignoring the opinion of the other two election commissioners.

The party will hold a protest rally and bring out a procession in the capital while its youth front Awami Jubo League will lay siege to the Election Commission (EC) this morning. Besides, different district and upazila units of the party and its front wings will demonstrate against the fresh roll move.

In another development, the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) yesterday accused CEC Justice MA Aziz of violating the constitution by taking no account of the other election commissioners' opinion over the issue of voter list.

The CEC's move to 'stagemanage' the next election for the ruling alliance at the instigation of some 'evil forces' inside the commission secretariat is suicidal for the future of democracy in the country, SCBA General Secretary M Enayetur Rahim said, reading from a statement at a press conference.

A total of 2,16,722 enumerators, who were appointed in last November despite objections from election commissioners M Munsef Ali and AK Mohammad Ali, will go from door to door collecting information on the would-be voters till January 7.

The two election commissioners had opposed the recruitment in writing. But the EC secretariat on orders of the CEC went on to appoint 83 registration officers, 6,270 assistant registration officers, 55,684 supervisors and 2,16,722 enumerators for the listing job.

They will carry out the task of preparing the fresh electoral roll in line with the decision CEC took on his own on August 6.

According to the timetable declared for the task on December 6, also without consulting the two election commissioners, the supervisor will start checking the collected information from January 8 to January 21 while assistant registration officers will begin re-checking those from January 22.

A draft list will be published on February 28 while complaints about that will have to be submitted by March 16. The revising authorities will resolve the complaints by April 1.

On completion of these phases, the final voter list will be published on June 1.

CONTROVERSY

Election Commissioners M Munsef Ali and AK Mohammad Ali have all

along been objecting to going for a fresh voter list.

With his two colleagues being vocal in their displeasure over his decision, MA Aziz has not convened a meeting of the commission to discuss the issue since last August.

At times, he had forwarded files to the election commissioners for their opinion on matters pertaining to preparation of the roll. In reply, the two gave note of dissent in each of those files.

But the EC secretariat refused to pay attention to the dissent. Instead, at the directive of the CEC, it wrapped up preparations including the recruitment and training of manpower and printing of voter forms.

Opposition lawmakers Rahmat Ali and Asaduzzaman Noor, and AL General Secretary Abdul Jalil on December 11 filed two writ petitions with the High Court, challenging the CEC decision and activities in preparation of a fresh roll.

The petitions argue that the CEC's decision without authorisation of two of the three commissioners was taken illegally while the recruitment for the purpose of preparing a fresh electoral roll are impugned.

The CEC has no authority to exercise the powers conferred upon the EC without authorisation or consent of at least the majority view of the election commissioners, the petitions stated.

The latest in the controversy was CEC MA Aziz's not talking to the media despite inviting the journalists for a press briefing on Thursday.