Dhaka Bureau: 186 claims and objections have been submitted on the draft parliamentary seat boundaries published by the Election Commission. A large portion of the petitioners demanded to maintain the current boundaries. They said that changing the existing parliamentary boundaries would create major chaos. The Kazi Habibul Awal Commission will face controversy. The constitutional body published the draft list of parliamentary seat boundaries on February 26. Time was given until March 19 to file objections on that list.
EC Secretary Md. According to the notification signed by Jahangir Alam, the boundary will be finalized by June after the hearing on the application received regarding the boundary. The Comilla region received the highest number of applications on the draft boundary within the stipulated time. In this regard, EC Joint Secretary SM Asaduzzaman said that the highest number of applications were received in the Comilla region, at 84. Mymensingh and Chittagong regions have the fewest number of applications, each with one. Besides, no applications were received in the Rangpur and Sylhet regions. On the other hand, 43 applications were received in Rajshahi, 29 in Barisal, 18 in Dhaka, and five each from the Khulna and Faridpur regions.
The Election Commissioner said that the final boundaries of the parliamentary seats will be decided by hearing the applications. Anishur Rahman. To keep themselves above controversy, the current commission published a draft of the boundaries for 300 seats in the 12th National Assembly elections while maintaining the existing boundaries. The public representatives applauded this decision. The draft list was published in seven parliamentary constituencies in administrative format.
The seven constituencies that were changed in the draft were: Mymensingh-4: The Mymensingh-4 constituency was formed with Mymensingh Sadar Upazila before the 11th National Assembly elections. Mymensingh City Corporation area and Mymensingh Sadar Upazila have been kept in the Mymensingh-4 constituency in the draft. Madaripur-3: Last time Kalkini Upazila was comprised of the Khwajpur, Jhowdi, Ghatmazhi, Mustafapur, and Kendua Unions of Madaripur Sadar Upazila, The newly formed Dasar Upazila has been added to it in the draft. Sunamganj-1: Madhyanagar upazila has been added in the draft to the constituency consisting of Dharmapasha, Tahirpur, and Jamalpur upazilas. Sunamganj-3: At present, the constituency consists of Jagannathpur and Dakshin Sunamganj upazilas. Jagannathpur and Shantinagar upazilas have been mentioned in the draft. Sylhet-1: Consists of the Sylhet City Corporation area and the Sylhet Sadar Upazila. Wards 1 to 27 and 31 to 39 of the City Corporation and Sylhet Sadar Upazila have been kept in the draft seat. Sylhet-3: At present, the seat consists of Dakshin Surma, Fenchuganj, and Balaganj upazilas. Ward numbers 28, 29, 30, 40, 41, and 42 of Sylhet City Corporation have been added to it in the draft. Cox’s Bazar-3: Currently, the constituency consists of Cox’s Bazar Sadar and Ramu Upazila. Eidgao Upazila has been added to it in the draft.
The commission will follow five procedures: keeping the 2018 total number of seats in each district unchanged; Keeping administrative units, especially upazilas and city wards, intact as much as possible; Unions, municipal wards not to be divided into multiple parliamentary constituencies; Incorporating new administrative areas into, expanding, or abolishing them; Considering geographical features and communication systems
