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Constituency Re-demarcation

Petition off HC hearing list

Poll schedule with redrawn JS seats faces setback

Staff Correspondent
A High Court (HC) bench yesterday dropped from its cause list a writ petition challenging the Election Commission’s (EC) redemarcation of the parliamentary constituencies.
The decision that came from the vacation bench of Justice Nazmun Ara Sultana and Justice Md Rczaul Haque means an earlier HC order staying the constituency delimita-
tion remains in force.
It also represents a setback for the EC plans to announce schedule for the national election with redrawn constituencies by the first week of November with a gap of at least 42 days between the publication of timetable and the polling dayofDecember 18.
Counsels for the writ petitioner prayed for the hearing to be deferred till October 18. They said they will approach another bench to hear tne petition after the Supreme Court divisions return from vacation on October 12.
On September 22, the bench fixed September 29 (yesterday) forbearing.
Former BNP state minister Abdul Mannan filed the petition on August 6, challenging the legality of the EC's gazette notification finalising fresh delineation of the constituencies. The following day an HC bench stayed the operation of the notification for three months
Counsel for the EC Mahmudu! Islam told the court that the petition should be settled quickly as it is a matter of national interest.
He said the commission wants the issue to be resolved as soon as possible since it will have to firepare constituency-wise voter ists required to announce the polls schedule.
Any delay in that regard could put the long-stalled general election in jeopardy, he added.
Petitioner's counsels Zainul Abedin and Nasiruddin Ahmed Asim told the court it is not possible for their seniors Khondker Mahbub Uddin Ahmed and TH Khan to attend hearing before the court reopens after vacation.
Khondker Mahbub Uddin is seriously ill while Khan is busy handling some other urgent matters, they added.
The court said if both sides agree it can fix any day between October 5 and 7 for hearing the petition.
Zainul Abedin, also law secretary of BNP, at that time, said the senior lawyers would not be able to participate in arguments till the end of the vacation at the
earliest.
Then the bench removed the petition from the cause list.
EC's counsel Shahdeen Malik yesterday told The Daily Star that the commission will soon appeal to the HC to vacate its order stay ing the gazette notification on constituency re demarcation.
He said ne hopes the matter would be settled soon and the EC would be able to announce the election schedule on time
Nasiruddin Ahmed Asim said-they had sought deferment of the hearing as they believe adequate time should be allowed for arguments since the issue is important from a constitutional point of view.
Khondker Mahbub Uddin Ahmed was at the court, but did not make any submissions due to illness, Asim said.
TH Khan was not present for hisother commitments.
Besides ordering the stay, the HC bench of Justice Khaaemul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Mashuque Hosain Ahmed on August 7 also directed the government and the commission to explain within two weeks why the gazette notification should not be declared unconstitutional and illegal.
In the petition, Abdul Mannan argued that article 122 of the constitution and the Electoral Roll (Amendment) Ordinance 2007 require the authorities to redraw constituencies before the voter register is prepared.
It is to allow people to know in advance for which constituency they would register as voters.
“But this Election Commission re-demarcated the constituencies when over 99 percent of voter listing was complete,” the petitionerobserved.