Shortcomings in boundary delimitation

Photo: Star Archive

On February 6, the Election Commission (EC) announced the draft electoral boundaries of all 300 parliamentary constituencies in the country. Delimitation of boundaries is one of the most fundamental pre-election activities, and this has moved the EC one step closer to holding the 10th parliamentary election.
The EC has redrawn 87 electoral constituencies and the rest remain the same as they were in 2008. In preparing the revised delimitation EC considered administrative units: (i) boundaries of administrative districts have been kept unchanged and (ii) boundaries of upazilas, unions and wards have been kept undivided as much as possible. Moreover, easy access of voters to the polling stations has also been considered.
Delimitation is a complicated and controversial issue, and if the process does not ensure a level playing field for all candidates and parties, election results may vary. As a result, free and fair election cannot be ensured. Although, till date, there is no independent approach to boundary delimitation, the process must have some guiding principles: representativeness; equality of voting strength; independent, impartial boundary authority; transparency and non-discrimination.
Among these, the most imperative principles are representativeness and equality of voting strength. Due to the importance of these two principles, the UN Committee on Human Rights declared that "the drawing of electoral boundaries and the method of allocating votes should not distort the distribution of voters." OSCE's assertion in this case says: "The delineation of constituencies in which elections are conducted must preserve the equality of voting rights by providing approximately the same ratio of voters to elected representatives for each district."
But our boundary delimitation has neither addressed the representativeness nor the equality of voting strength. At the constituency level, according to the draft boundary delimitation, the highest number of voters is 80,2164 -- in Dhaka-19 -- while the lowest number is 144,046 -- in Jessore-4. The gap in the number of voters between these two constituencies is more than 6.5 lakhs. Inequality of voters is also observed among the administrative districts. In Dhaka, highest number of voters is in Dhaka-19, while the lowest is 152,517 in Dhaka-1. In Gazipur-1, the number of voters is 621,786, but in Gazipur-4 the number is 229,883. This gap, which is against the principles of delimitation, has been observed in more than 60% of the districts.
In fact, since the 1973 election, Bangladesh never followed an absolute and all-inclusive method for boundary delimitation. Even in the last parliamentary election held in 2008, which is considered as the “best election in the country's history,” delimitation was not done with proper representation as well as with equal voting strength. There were huge gaps in the number of voters among the constituencies. According to 2008 delimitation, the lowest number of voters was 1,17,730 in Khulna-1 while the highest number of voters was 6,02,386 in Dhaka-19 (Savar) constituency. The difference of voters between these two constituencies was 4,48,656 (about six times). Inability to achieve proper representation of voters is a huge deficiency in delimitation. Many discrepancies were also discovered in the constituencies in a district in 2008 delimitation.
One of the big shortcomings in delimitation is that we do not have any mandatory provision to involve technical experts in the process. In many countries, delimitation is done by a separate commission consisting of technical experts. In Australia and New Zealand, the delimitation commissions incorporate electoral officers and the surveyor-general. In India, there is a separate delimitation commission headed by a judge of the Supreme Court with representation from election commission. In England, there is an independent and impartial Boundary Commission which reviews all Parliamentary constituency boundaries every five years and submits its report to the parliament.
Another deficiency in delimitation is that we do not have any electoral quota, i.e. average voting strength for the constituencies. In many countries, there is a quota system. In UK, the current (2013) electoral quota for each constituency is 76,641. Every constituency -- except two covering the Isle of Wight -- must have a number of registered electors that is not 5% lower or higher than this figure. In practice, this means constituencies must contain between 72,810 and 80,473 electors. Due to lack of quota system, there is enormous difference between the numbers of voters in the constituencies of Bangladesh.
Limited public access and inadequate consultation with stakeholders are the other shortcomings in delimitation. But delimitation without comprehensive public consultation lacks public confidence. To ensure public access in many countries, citizens are widely consulted during the process to solicit their comments and concerns regarding the placement of the constituency boundaries. A public awareness programme designed to educate stakeholders about the process, and advance consultation at the district level, might be helpful in the context of Bangladesh.
The other shortcoming is the arbitration process. After the draft electoral delimitation, aggrieved people can appeal to the EC. EC arranges hearings to resolve the matter. But in some countries legal provisions allow the persons aggrieved by a decision of the EMB in respect of demarcation of a boundary to appeal to a tribunal. Additionally, a person aggrieved by a decision of the tribunal may appeal to the court of appeal whose decision on the matter is final. Bangladesh does not have such a provision.
Delimitation is a technical job. For proper delimitation it is essential to form a technical body composed not only of impartial public officials but also of professionals with the requisite skills in election administration, geography, cartography, demography, and statistics. The legal framework of Bangladesh needs to be revised so that the EC can involve technical experts, introduce electoral quota, conduct consultations and form a special tribunal to deal with appeals by aggrieved persons.

The writer is an international election expert, also perusing for PhD in the field of electoral governance.
E-mail: [email protected]