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Published : 09 Jan 2026, 10:58 AM
The Election Commission has decided to temporarily suspend the election process in two of Pabna’s parliamentary seats amid a dispute over the revision of the constituency boundaries following an order from the Supreme Court.
Election Commissioner Abdur Rahmanul Masud said on Friday, “According to the order by the Supreme Court’s Appellate Division, the election process for the Pabna-1 and Pabna-2 seats will be suspended until a further decision by the court.”
Ahead of the 13th general election, the Election Commission issued a gazette on Sept 4 last year redefining constituency boundaries. As per the gazette, the entire Santhia Upazila was finalised as Pabna-1, while Sujanagar and Bera Upazilas together formed Pabna-2.
Challenging the legality of the demarcation, Jahirul Islam of Bera Upazila and Abu Sayeed of Santhia Upazila filed separate writ petitions with the High Court.
After a preliminary hearing, the High Court issued a rule on Sept 17 last year and, following the hearing, delivered its verdict on Dec 18.
In the ruling, the High Court declared the part of the gazette that mentioned the exclusion of four unions and the municipality of Bera Upazila from Pabna-1 and attaching them to Pabna-2 as “without legal authority.”
The court also gave directives to restore the previous boundaries of Pabna-1 and Pabna-2 and to publish a gazette within 24 hours.
On Dec 24, the Election Commission issued a revised notice.
It showed the entirety Santhia Upazila along with Bera Municipality and the Haturia Nakalia, Natun Varenga, Chakla and Kaitola unions of Bera Upazila to form the Pabna-1 constituency. Pabna-2 was shown as consisting of the remaining five unions of Bera Upazila and the entirety Sujanagar Upazila.
Jamaat-e-Islami candidate Mohammad Najibur Rahman from Pabna-1 and the Election Commission then separately filed petitions seeking a halt of the High Court verdict. After hearing the petitions on Jan 5, the top court stayed the relevant portion of the EC’s Dec 24 revised notification.
An Appellate Division bench led by Chief Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury ordered the stay order to remain in force until a petition of “leave to appeal” is filed.
As a result, the EC’s Sept 4 gazette has come back into effect for the two constituencies. This means Pabna-1 consists of Santhia Upazila, while Pabna-2 will include Sujanagar and Bera Upazilas.
The EC decided to temporarily suspend all electoral activities in Pabna-1 and Pabna-2 until further court orders due to the complexities over the demarcation of the constituencies.
However, election activities in the remaining 298 constituencies will continue as usual. Candidates are now filing appeals against returning officers’ decisions, with the EC set to begin deciding on the appeals from Saturday.
Before the Feb 12 polls, nomination papers were allowed to be submitted until Dec 29. More than 2,500 nomination papers were filed for the 300 seats in total. Of them, 723 candidates were rejected during scrutiny, which continued until Jan 4.
When asked, Election Commission Secretary Akhtar Ahmed said: “The court has directed us not to take any electoral action in Pabna-1 and Pabna-2 at this moment. In accordance with this, the commission is refraining from taking any activities in these two constituencies for now.”
