EC wants no change in constituency boundaries ahead of national polls

Staff Reporter :
The Election Commission (EC) will publish the draft of the boundaries of 300 constituencies this month ahead of the 12th parliamentary elections.
The commission wants to maintain the boundaries determined in the previous parliamentary elections despite the new announcement.
EC Secretary Md Jahangir Alam told reporters after the commission meeting at the Nirbachan Bhaban on Tuesday.
The secretary said that the draft of the boundaries that existed during the last parliamentary elections will be published and a time will be fixed for filing objections in the notification.
He said that about 20 to 25 applications have already been submitted objecting the current border of JS seats.A hearing will be held on all the claims and objections that have been raised within the stipulated time and the applications that have been submitted so far.
After the hearing, the final delimited area will be announced in the light of the rules.
When asked whether there will be a change in the parliamentary seats, he said: “This matter will mainly depend on the number of applications received.”
The secretary said: “We will publish the draft first. After reviewing the objection applications, I can say what (change) has actually happened in how many (seats).”
In response to another question, the EC Secretary said: “We will release the draft following the procedure as determined before the 12th election, which means with the existing one.”
Then if anyone has any objection, that objection has to be filed. All applications will be heard. After that, the boundaries of how many seats are being changed will be finalised.
Being asked when the draft will be published, he said: “The draft will be published soon. We will do this within the next week.”
He said: “The first law is geographical integrity, then territorial indivisibility, then administrative area, fourth is population density. Taking all these into consideration, if necessary, corrections will be made. If not, it won’t happen.”
This is the first commission meeting of the current commission on demarcation of parliamentary constituencies.
Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal along with other commissioners and senior EC officials were present at the meeting.