EC goes to HC again to vacate stay

The Election Commission (EC) yesterday again petitioned the High Court (HC) for vacating its earlier stay on the recent redemarcation of parliamentary constituencies.
Advocate Mahmudul Islam submitted the petition on behalf of the EC to the HC bench of Justice Mir Hasmat Ali and Justice Shamim Hasnain.
The EC on October 14 withdrew its earlier petition from the HC bench of Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain and Justice Quamrul Islam Siddiqui, which had been submitted on September 29.
EC's counsel Dr Shahdeen Malik yesterday told reporters that the commission's petition for vacating the HC stay order might come up on the cause list of the bench today.
"If the High Court order staying the redemarcation is not vacated, the announcement of the schedule for the upcoming parliamentary election will be delayed," he said adding that the HC stay order should be vacated immediately.
The same HC bench was scheduled to hear a petition challenging the redemarcation yesterday, but did not hear it since the item was at the bottom of the day's cause list.
Dr Shahdeen Malik said the writ petition was item no 176 on the cause list.
"If the situation continues like this, at least six months will be needed to get the matter adjudicated," he added.
Former BNP state minister Abdul Mannan filed the writ petition on August 6 challenging the legality of the EC's gazette notification finalising the fresh redemarcation of the constituencies.
The next day, the HC bench of Justice Khademul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Mashuque Hosain Ahmed stayed the effectiveness of the notification for three months, and directed the government and the EC to explain within two weeks why the notification should not be declared unconstitutional and illegal.
The HC bench of Justice Mir Hasmat Ali and Justice Shamim Hasnain on October 13 fixed yesterday for hearing the matter.