The Election Commission (EC) has been allowed to formulate necessary rules and regulations for boundary delimitation of parliamentary seats.
A fresh law under the title ‘The Delimitation of Constituencies Bill, 2021’ has been passed in the Parliament in this regard.
Law Minister Anisul Haq placed ‘The Delimitation of Constituencies Bill, 2021’ in the Parliament on Saturday (September 4) and it was passed by voice vote.
The bill will be effective after signing by the President. The new law empowers the EC to make rules, which are not in the existing provisions of the law.
The law was designed aiming to make a permanent law instead of the existing ‘Delimitation of Constituencies Ordinance, 1976’, which was promulgated during the military regime of Ziaur Rahman.
As per the bill, the EC will divide the country into many single territorial constituencies as the number of members to be elected as per the Constitution.
The incumbent Election Commission, headed by KM Nurul Huda, took the initiative of reforming the existing rules and laws over boundary delimitation of constituencies. As part of the EC’s move, it was announced to amend the law in this regard.
Later, the EC finalised the draft of ‘The Delimitation of Constituencies Act, 2021’ and sent it to the government on December 11 in 2019.
In the law, it was proposed to combine the number of voters of seats on the basis of the population. There was also discussion on maintaining balance between city corporations, large towns and rural areas.
Article 119 (C) of the Constitution calls on the EC to determine the boundaries of constituencies for parliamentary elections. However, Article 124 states that the EC will determine the boundaries of constituencies by the law.
Against this backdrop, the boundaries of parliamentary seats are rearranged under 1976 ordinance. The fresh law will shun contradiction.
