The Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday filed an appeal in the Chamber Court challenging the High Court’s order to restore all four parliamentary seats in Bagerhat.
On Monday, the High Court bench of Justice Shashanka Shekhar Sarkar and Justice KM Zahid Sarwar Kajol declared the EC’s gazette that reduced Bagerhat’s seats from four to three as illegal.
The court also directed that all four seats be reinstated.
Meanwhile, leaders of BNP and Jamaat in Bagerhat have welcomed the court’s verdict and urged the EC to comply with it. Around noon on Tuesday, they met with Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin at the Election Commission Headquarters to convey their demand for restoring the four seats.
Present at the meeting were BNP Executive Committee member Sheikh Wadizzuman Dipu, BNP district adviser and senior joint convener of the Tanti Dal Kazi Moniruzzaman Monir, Jamaat leader Manzurul Islam Rahat, and several other party leaders.
They described the High Court ruling as a fair decision and requested the EC not to file any appeal that could undermine it. Sheikh Wadizzuman Dipu and others also said the discussion with the CEC had been productive.
Earlier, ahead of the 13th national parliamentary elections, the EC made minor and major boundary changes in at least 39 constituencies across the country. As a result, Gazipur gained one seat while Bagerhat lost one seat.
The EC had proposed on 30 July to reduce Bagerhat’s four seats to three.
This proposal was opposed by various political parties, who organised protests, strikes, and formed an all-party committee demanding the restoration of all four seats. Despite a hearing, the EC published a final gazette on 4 September reducing the district’s seats to three, with only boundary changes compared to the initial proposal.
The final gazette divided Bagerhat as follows – Bagerhat-1 (Sadar, Chitalmari, Mollahat), Bagerhat-2 (Fakirhat, Rampal, Mongla), and Bagerhat-3 (Kachua, Morelganj, Sharankhola).
This marked a change from the historical division since 1969, when Bagerhat had four constituencies, Bagerhat-1 (Chitalmari-Mollahat-Fakirhat), Bagerhat-2 (Bagerhat Sadar-Kachua), Bagerhat-3 (Rampal-Mongla), and Bagerhat-4 (Morelganj-Sharankhola).
