DHAKA — The Election Commission has suspended voting in Pabna-1 and Pabna-2 in the upcoming 13th national parliamentary election due to a constituency boundary dispute, officials said Saturday.
The commission issued a circular on the matter Saturday, signed by Deputy Secretary Mohammad Monir Hossain.
The commission said the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court issued an order on Jan. 5 in a case relating to the boundaries of parliamentary constituencies 68 (Pabna-1) and 69 (Pabna-2). In light of that order, the commission has decided to suspend voting in those two constituencies in the 13th national election scheduled for Feb. 12, until further notice.
Ahead of the parliamentary election, the commission published a final gazette on Sept. 4 last year after reorganizing the parliamentary constituencies. That gazette set Pabna-1 as covering all of Santhia upazila, and Pabna-2 as a combination of Sujanagar and Bera upazilas.
Bera upazila resident Zahirul Islam and Santhia upazila resident Abu Saeed filed writ petitions in the High Court challenging the legality of that portion of the commission’s gazette. After an initial hearing, the High Court issued a rule on Sept. 17 last year. After the final hearing, the High Court declared the rule absolute and delivered its judgment on Dec. 18.
The court declared as without legal authority the portion of the commission’s gazette that removed four unions and the municipality of Bera upazila from Pabna-1 and added them to Pabna-2. The court also ordered the commission to restore the two Pabna parliamentary seats to their previous form and publish a gazette within 24 hours.
The commission published a revised notification on the two Pabna seats on Dec. 24. Under it, Pabna-1 was again constituted as all of Santhia upazila, plus Bera municipality and four unions of Bera upazila (Haturia Nakalia, Notun Bharenga, Chakla and Koitola). Pabna-2 was constituted as the remaining five unions of Bera upazila and all of Sujanagar upazila.
The Jamaat-e-Islami-nominated candidate in Pabna-1, Mohammad Najibur Rahman (Najib Momen), and the Election Commission separately filed petitions seeking a stay of the High Court ruling. The petitions were heard at the chamber judge’s court of the Appellate Division on Dec. 23, and the court set a date for hearing them before the regular bench of the Appellate Division.
On Jan. 5, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court restored the previous boundaries of the two seats by staying the relevant portion of the commission’s revised Dec. 24 notification.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report