Redrawing constituencies: Govt set to amend law

The government is moving to amend the law in order to redraw the boundaries of parliamentary constituencies.

To this end, the Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs Division will present the draft of the National Parliament Constituency Delimitation (Amendment) Ordinance 2025 for approval at the upcoming advisory council meeting tomorrow.

According to sources, the draft proposes redrawing boundaries by considering population as well as the number of voters, geographic and ethnic characteristics, and communication infrastructure. However, union councils and city corporation or municipality wards will not be divided under any circumstance.

Earlier, the Election Commission (EC) had submitted a proposal to the Cabinet Division to amend Sections 4, 6, and 8 of the existing law, citing ambiguities and limitations. A draft of the amended law was also sent. 

A Cabinet Division inter-ministerial committee has since reviewed the draft. Once the Advisory Council grants approval, the amendment ordinance will be issued.

Before the 12th parliamentary elections, in 2021, the Awami League government repealed the previous ordinance on constituency delimitation and introduced a new law.

In its proposal to the Cabinet Division, the EC stated that ambiguities and limitations in Sections 4, 6, and 8 of the current law have led to confusion and objections from the public and political parties. 

These concerns became more pronounced following the July uprising. Since assuming office, the current Election Commission has been receiving proposals to redraw existing constituency boundaries.

According to EC sources, 402 applications have been submitted to the commission for redrawing the boundaries of 63 constituencies. After the law is amended, these objections will be reviewed and the boundaries will be revised. Redrawing the boundaries of 60 constituencies is likely to affect more than 100 constituencies in total.

Proposed changes 

Under the Section 4 of the current law, the Commission may delegate its powers to the Chief Election Commissioner, any Election Commissioner, or their officials to carry out its responsibilities.

The EC has proposed changing this section so that the Commission forms a committee with a necessary number of members headed by the Chief Election Commissioner or any other Election Commissioner. The committee may also include, as needed, geographers, cartographers, statisticians, demographers, and urban planners.

In its observations, the EC noted that under Section 6 of the current law, giving excessive importance to population when determining constituency boundaries, resulted in widespread changes in the same across the country. 

As a result, the number of seats in densely populated urban areas has increased, while rural areas have seen a decrease—causing public dissatisfaction. Therefore, voter numbers, geographical conditions and location should also be considered along with population.

Under current Section 6(2), the Commission determines regional constituency boundaries considering administrative convenience, while maintaining the geographical integrity of each area. This boundary determination must be based, as far as possible, on the actual distribution of population as reported in the latest census.

The EC has proposed replacing Section 6(2) with four new clusters for consideration in boundary redrawing: First, administrative convenience and territorial integrity; including rivers, hills, and other geographical and ethnic characteristics and communication facilities, which must be preserved as far as possible.

Second, the latest census data and most recent updated voter rolls will be followed as far as possible.

Third, in rural areas, union councils, and in city corporations or municipalities, wards must not be divided under any circumstances.

And finally, the three districts of the Chittagong Hill Tracts should each be considered a separate regional constituency.

In 2008, the Shamsul Huda Commission altered the boundaries of over 100 constituencies for the 9th parliamentary election. The Rakibuddin Ahmad Commission made minor changes in 50 seats for the 10th election. The Nurul Huda Commission made adjustments in 25 seats ahead of the 11th election in 2018, and the Habibul Awal Commission made slight changes in 12 seats before the 12th election. Prior to that, boundaries of 33 constituencies were changed in 1984 and 1991.