The New Nation - Internet Edition

UNB, Dhaka

The activities of the Election Commission "failed to earn credibility" to convince the people that election to the next parliament would be held on December 18 as announced, a lawyer told the High Court yesterday.

Advocate ABM Nurul Islam, one of the challengers against the reformation of the parliamentary constituencies, raised the contentions while making submission on rule-hearing on his own writ petition against the April 29 EC gazette notification re-delimitating 150 of the 300 constituencies.

The hearing was held in the bench of Justice Mir Hasmat Ali and Justice Shamim Hasnain.

Terming the EC notification mala fide and arbitrary, Islam said that the EC violated the principles of reasonable distribution of constituencies, putting the intending candidates into trouble. "There is no such law existing for allocation of district-wide seats," he said.

Invoking Article 125 of the Constitution that bars challenging the validity of any law relating to the delimitation of constituencies or the allotment of parliament seats, the petitioner-lawyer submitted that he did not challenge the veracity or vires of the law on delimitation of constituencies or allotment of parliamentary seats.

"I sought the implementation of the provisions of the law on election for ensuring that the election is credible," he told the court.

Defending the EC stand, advocate Mahmudul Islam underpinned section 8 of the Delimitation of Constituencies Ordinance 1976 that states that the territorial constituencies shall be delimitated afresh upon completion of each census, for the purpose of general election to parliament to be held following such census, unless otherwise directed by the Election Commission for reasons to be recorded in writing, before such general election to parliament.

On May 12, the HC, following Islam's writ petition, issued a rule upon the EC to explain why the impugned notification 'should not be declared illegal'.

His is one of nearly a dozen similar writ petitions await rule hearings in a tandem on the issue vital to the December polls, as before clearing the legal impediments the EC cannot announce election schedule.

A tentative dater for announcing the election schedule is November 1 or 2.