EC gets 1057 appeals from the aggrieved
Aggrieved by the Election Commission's (EC) move to redraw parliamentary constituencies, politicians and other people have filed 1,057 appeals with the EC against re-demarcation of 43 constituencies.
Amidst growing opposition from major political parties, the EC on April 29 unveiled a draft list of parliamentary constituencies with 133 of the 300 seats redrawn, and invited appeals against it by June 1, if any.
Officials at the EC Secretariat said they received the appeals concerning 43 seats by Monday, and the number might go on increasing till expiry of the time limit.
Election Commissioner Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hussain however said yesterday appeals from only six or seven constituencies have merits and the remaining ones do not contain sufficient substances.
“We will decide whether we will hear all the appeals or only those with merits,” he told reporters at his office.
The EC will start hearing of appeals from the second week of June so that it can publish final list of the re-demarcated parliamentary constituencies by the end of the month.
Sakhawat said they have received some appeals even from constituencies with no changes in their boundaries. “These appeals contain demands for re-demarcation of the seats,” he added.
Major political parties are opposing the EC move saying it would create obstacles to holding the ninth parliamentary polls by the year end, as per the announced electoral roadmap.
The EC however repeatedly said this would in no way hamper holding of parliamentary polls in time.
The constituencies from where appeals have been filed include Sirajganj -1,2,3,4 and 5, Faridpur-1,2,3 and 4 , Dhaka -2 and10, Chittagong -3, 5,6 and 13, Chandpur-1 and 4, Pirojpur-2 and 3, Satkhira-3 and 5, Comilla-7and 8, Barisal-1and 3, Gazipur-3, Sylhet-4, Barguna-1, Patuakhali -2, Mymensingh -3, Feni -3, Jessore-5 and Brahmanbaria -5.
CITY AND MUNICIPALITIES POLLS
Sakhawat said the EC has sent draft rules on conducting polls to city corporations and municipalities to the law ministry for vetting, and hoped the rules will be finalised soon.
In the draft rules, the EC proposed to increase election expenditures of candidates in these elections. It proposed fixing polls expenditures on the basis of number of voters.
The EC plans to announce by the middle of next month the schedules for polls to four city corporations and seven municipalities in the third week of July.
“We will meet the chief adviser soon to ask the government to create an atmosphere conducive to holding local government polls either by relaxing or lifting the state of emergency in the areas where polls will take place,” Sakhawat said.
The EC wants to hold workshops to assist prospective candidates in filling up nomination forms in these polls.
“We have plans to organise such workshops ahead all elections,” he said.
On the progress of preparing voter list with photographs, the election commissioner said 7.17 crore voters were enrolled till May 24.
Field level task of preparing voter list will be completed next month, registering around eight crore voters, and the final list will be ready by early October, EC sources said.
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