EC receives a pile of applications for redrawing of constituencies

The Election Commission, or EC, has received hundreds of applications seeking major changes to constituency boundaries for the upcoming general election.

The EC has yet to approve a draft of the redistricting process.

People, including members of parliament, urged the EC to redraw many parliamentary seats in 64 districts. Most of the applications demand the addition of a small ward, union or Upazila to a larger constituency.

The two major parties, the Awami League and the BNP, were at odds in their recommendations about the redistricting process to the EC during discussions.

An EC committee on parliamentary seat redistricting has begun preparing a draft of the process for the parliamentary constituencies, said Election Commissioner Rafiqul Islam, the convener of committee.

“The committee will prioritise making a draft list for the constituencies to be re-drawn for the upcoming parliamentary elections,” he told bdnews24.com.

“Several political leaders and public representatives have applied for redistricting. Time will be given to challenge any move to redistrict and objections will be considered before we finalise the draft.’

The co-ordination and management branch of the EC says, applications are posted every day and filed according to the district’s name. A total of 105 applications have already been filed from the Narsingdi district.

Fifty-six applications have been filed from Pirojpur, 14 to 16 from Gazipur, Comilla and Barisal and more have come in from Dhaka-11, Dhaka-18, Narayanganj-4, Narsingdi-5, Pabna-1, Khulna-3, Khulna-6, Barisal-3, Pirojpur-1, Pirojpur-2, Pirojpur-3, Barguna-2, Barguna-3, Bhola-2, Patuakhali-3, Sherpur-3, Kishoreganj-1, kurigram-4, Comilla-2, Comilla-6, Comilla -8, Comilla -10, Comilla -9 constituencies.