EC scrambles to resolve its re-demarcation issue

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The Election Commission (EC) is urgently trying to get out of the tight spot it finds itself in after a High Court (HC) ruling stayed for three months the effectiveness of a gazette notification on the recent redemarcation of constituencies.

The rush is prompted by the fact that the Supreme Court is set to go on vacation for a month and a half after Thursday.

Returning from vacation, the court will resume on October 12, while the EC plans to announce the parliamentary election schedule by the end of October or early November, for holding the poll in the third week of December.

Legal experts and EC officials said the commission might face difficulties in proceeding with its plans if the issue is not resolved soon, as it will have to finish the gigantic task of preparations before the poll.

In the face of the time constraint, the EC wants to quickly resolve the issue with the court as it believes the stay order triggered a sense of uncertainty over holding the stalled ninth parliamentary poll on schedule, the EC sources said.

“We are taking urgent measures to get the matter heard before the court’s vacation begins. We will try our best to dispel the prevailing uncertainty over the poll following the stay order,” Shahdeen Malik, counsel of the EC, told The Daily Star. He however did not elaborate on the measures being taken by the commission. The HC on August 7 stayed for three months the EC’s gazette notification that had finalised redemarcation of the constituencies, and issued a ruling on the government and the commission to show causes in two weeks as to why the gazette should not be declared unconstitutional and illegal.

Since the ruling, the EC has been preparing a reply through its lawyers. In the reply, the commission is likely to mention the provisions of the delimitation of constituencies ordinance, and the electoral roll ordinance. It will also refer to the constitutional provision that provides the EC with a blanket immunity from prosecution for redemarcating the constituencies, sources in the EC said.

But with the court’s scheduled vacation knocking on the door, the EC is in a scramble to get its reply heard by the court, as the time for preparations is also running out fast ahead of the tentative schedule for holding the next parliamentary poll, the EC officials said.

Immediately after the court’s stay order on August 7, Attorney General Salauddin Ahmed said the stay order might affect the upcoming parliamentary poll. Preparations for the poll might be hampered by it, he feared.

The EC already asked its lawyers to initiate urgent measures so the matter can be heard before the Supreme Court goes on vacation. The EC’s counsels also began the process to that effect, the commission sources said.

If the stay order remains in force for three months or more, officials in the EC Secretariat fear that the commission will find itself in a difficult situation regarding holding the poll in December.

The previous gazette regarding constituency delimitation cannot be used for the next poll due to its ineffectiveness, they added.

That gazette notification was published in 2006 in a bid to hold the ninth parliamentary poll, which had been originally scheduled for January 22, 2007.

But the poll could not be held due to political turmoil in the country that led to the declaration of the ongoing state of emergency.

Legal experts said the 2006 gazette notification has automatically become ineffective since the census report of 2001 was published in 2007, compelling the EC to redemarcate the parliamentary constituencies afresh.

The Delimitation of Constituencies Ordinance 1976 says the EC shall redemarcate parliamentary constituencies after each census.

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