STAFF CORRESPONDENT

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court yesterday ruled that there is no legal obstacle to holding elections in the Pabna-1 and Pabna-2 constituencies on February 12.

The polls in the two constituencies will be held according to the boundaries set out in the gazette issued by the Election Commission on September 4 last year following the delimitation.

Accordingly, the apex court said Santhia upazila will fall under the Pabna-1 constituency, while Sujanagar and Bera upazilas together will form the Pabna-2, court sources said.

A four-member bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury, passed the order after hearing a leave-to-appeal petition against a High Court verdict that had declared illegal the EC gazette notification of September 4 last year, which had attached four unions and Bera municipality of Pabna-1 to Pabna-2.

The SC also stayed the HC verdict till disposal of the appeal against the judgement, sources at the court said.

Barrister Muhammad Nazibur Rahman Momen, Jamaat-e-Islami candidate for Pabna-1, filed the leave to appeal petition on Monday, seeking an order directing the Election Commission to lift its stay on election activities in the two Pabna constituencies.

Barrister Imran Siddiq appeared for Nazibur Rahman during hearing of the leave to appeal petition yesterday.

On January 10, citing an Appellate Division order related to constituency delimitation for the 13th parliamentary election, the EC decided to stay election-related activities in Pabna-1 and Pabna-2 until further instructions.

Earlier, on January 5, the Appellate Division stayed the amended gazette notification issued by the EC on December 24 last year, which redefined the boundaries of the two constituencies. The stay order will remain in force until the hearing of the leave to appeal filed against the HC judgment, the SC had said.