Will propose amendments to delimitation law to resolve complications: EC Sanaullah

Election Commissioner Abul Fazal Md Sanaullah has announced that the Election Commission (EC) will submit a proposal to the government for amending the Delimitation of Constituencies Act, 2021 to address its existing complications.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting at the EC building today (30 January), he highlighted two main problems with the current law. "The existing law prioritises population for determining boundaries, but we want to base boundaries on geographical area, location, and the latest population census report." 

Sanaullah also pointed out a typing error in one of the clauses of the act. "Because of this error, the EC will lack the authority to intervene in certain situations. This is not how it should be," he said. "We will raise this issue and write to the government for an amendment."

He added that there are conflicting provisions within the law that need to be removed to avoid complications.

In response to a question, the commissioner said 248 objections related to the delimitation of constituencies have already been submitted from 41 constituencies. "We are waiting to resolve these issues and expect decisions on the delimitation soon," he added.

He also mentioned, "The decision will include recommendations from the Reform Commission. The relevant committee of the Election Commission is set to present this issue at the next meeting and will update us on their preparations."

Despite the proposed changes, the commissioner believes the amendment will not cause any further complications.

"We do not think there is any complication here. This is an exercise we are carrying out ourselves. If any input is provided from our side, it can also be used. There is no possibility of any contradiction with the recommendations of the Reform Commission."

Regarding the voting rights of expatriate Bangladeshis, Sanaullah said that the EC is considering three potential options. "The first is postal ballots, although that is not very effective. The second option is proxy voting, a provision available in various countries. The third option is digital or online voting, but this system is not very simple," he said.

"We have decided to move forward with the first two options. At the same time, we will develop a feature for the third option (online voting) and run a pilot to determine if it is feasible," he said.

On the topic of the Voter List Act, 2009, the commissioner noted, "We believe more research is needed on this. Therefore, we have assigned the relevant committee to conduct further review."

In other developments, it was announced that a Disaster Recovery Site will be established for the Election Commission's data centre.

"The data centre currently has a backup server, but we lack a disaster recovery site. This is an urgent need. We have discussed the setup, and a joint committee has been formed to provide recommendations on this matter shortly," he said.

Sanaullah also mentioned that, due to cost-related complications, the previous commission had opted for an open tender to acquire blank National ID cards. "However, the army has now agreed to supply them at a rate of Tk172 per card. The required cards, amounting to Tk406 crore, will be acquired from them," he added.