A very good article..and explains why we need to get rid of these
false, barking dog politicians anyway we can....
http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=35094
========================
Some political parties including Awami League (AL) and BNP seem to
have overlooked the Election Commission's (EC) constitutional
jurisdiction and legal obligation to re-demarcate parliamentary
constituencies, as they have been criticising the commission for its
recent move to comply with the law.
According to the constitution, re-demarcating the parliamentary
constituencies is one of the mandatory tasks of the EC, while
according to the Delimitation of Constituencies Ordinance 1976, the
commission must do the job following publication of each census
report.
But, since the publication of gazette notification re-demarcating 133
out of the 300 parliamentary constituencies on Tuesday, political
parties have been rejecting outright the draft list of re-demarcated
constituencies, demanding withdrawal of the gazette.
On Friday following an AL presidium meeting, the party's Acting
General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam said his party disapproves of
the EC's move to re-demarcate the parliamentary constituencies,
claiming the commission does not have the jurisdiction to do that.
"According to the constitution, the Election Commission is entrusted
with the job of holding parliamentary elections only. It can't get
involved in policy matters like re-demarcation of constituencies. We
totally reject the EC's move," Ashraful told journalists at a news
briefing after the meeting.
Similarly, Khandaker Delwar Hossain, the de facto leader of pro-
Khaleda faction of BNP also detained BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia
appointed secretary general of the party, yesterday termed EC's move
illegal.
"Only the parliament can decide whether the numbers of parliamentary
seats will be increased or decreased [in a district]," Delwar
claimed.
Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojahid on
Sunday in a statement demanded withdrawal of the EC's gazette
notification publishing a draft list of re-demarcated constituencies.
Mojahid claimed, the EC took the decision ignoring public opinion,
while urging the commission to hold the general election with the
existing demarcation of the 300 parliamentary constituencies in place.
Some other political parties have also been blasting the EC for its
move to redraw the parliamentary boundaries before the much
anticipated ninth parliamentary election, which has been stalling for
over a year now.
The EC however is determined to do the job according to the
constitution and the relevant law, and it has already invited appeals
from anybody who has grievances against the commission's decision.
Till yesterday, nobody has however filed any appeal against the EC's
decision, although some people contacted some senior officials of the
EC Secretariat to know about the procedure for filing appeals.
"We will go ahead with our plan for redrawing the parliamentary
boundaries," Election Commissioner Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hussain
told reporters yesterday.
"I don't have any reaction," the election commissioner said when his
attention was drawn to the political parties' demand for scraping the
plan for redrawing the parliamentary boundaries.
The EC, which is duty bound to re-demarcate the parliamentary
constituencies following publication of each census reports according
to the current law, is not however worried about any negative
consequence of the re-demarcation, since the constituency demarcation
law provides it with the legal protection required.
"The validity of the delimitation or formation of any constituency,
or of any proceedings taken or anything done by or under the
authority of the commission, under this ordinance shall not be called
in question in or before any court or other authority," says the
Delimitation of Constituencies Ordinance 1976, while the constitution
says, "The validity of any law relating to the delimitation of
constituencies, or the allotment of seats to such constituencies,
made or purporting to be made under article 124, shall not be called
in question in any court."
THE CONSTITUTION SAYS
On the EC's functions, the constitution says, "The superintendence,
direction and control of the preparation of the electoral rolls for
elections to the office of president and to parliament, and the
conduct of such elections, shall vest in the Election Commission
which shall, in accordance with this Constitution and any other law
(a) hold elections to the office of president (b) hold elections of
members of parliament (c) delimit the constituencies for the purpose
of elections to parliament, and (d) prepare electoral rolls for the
purpose of elections to the office of president and to parliament."
"The Election Commission shall perform such functions, in addition to
those specified in the foregoing clauses, as may be prescribed by
this constitution or by any other law," the constitution continues.
THE LAW
About re-demarcation of constituencies, the Delimitation of
Constituencies Ordinance 1976 says, "The territorial constituencies
shall be delimited afresh upon the completion of each census, for the
purpose of general election to parliament to be held following such
census and unless otherwise directed by the commission, for reasons
to be recorded in writing, before each general election to
parliament."
It goes on to say, "The constituencies shall be so delimited, having
regard to administrative convenience, that each constituency is a
compact area, and in doing so due regard shall be had, as far as
practicable, to the distribution of population as given in the latest
census report."
THE RATIONALE
The latest census was done in 2001, but the immediate past BNP-led
government did not publish the report during its five-year tenure.
So, the erstwhile EC also did not have to initiate any step to re-
demarcate the parliamentary constituencies.
The current military backed caretaker government published the census
report of 2001 in the middle of last year, making it obligatory for
the current EC to re-demarcate the constituencies before the upcoming
election.
In the electoral roadmap announced by the EC on July 15 last year,
the commission stipulated re-demarcation of the constituencies to
bring balance among the numbers of voters in those.
The political parties at that time also did not oppose the EC's plan,
but they changed their position when the commission began the re-
demarcation work this year.
The last time the EC carried out a major re-demarcation of the
constituencies was in 1984. Then in 1995, it brought some minor
changes to the electoral boundaries.
After 24 long years, a new EC moved to re-demarcate the
constituencies on a large scale again, ignoring objections of major
political parties.
Due to the long gap, population sizes in constituencies became quite
lopsided.
According to the voter list prepared in 2001, back then 17
constituencies had voters numbering below two lakh each, six had over
six lakh each, seven had between five and six lakh each, while 19
constituencies had somewhere between four and five lakh voters each.
The rest of the constituencies were more or less of medium-size in
terms of the numbers of voters.
Interestingly, the ceiling on election expenditure for all
constituencies however was the same, regardless of numbers of voters
in them.
Once the latest re-demarcation is finalised, there will be no major
inconsistency among the numbers of voters in the constituencies.
According to the announced electoral roadmap, the finalised list of
re-demarcated constituencies will be published through a gazette
notification by the end of June, and the election will be held before
the year end.
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