Protesters surround polls office over renewal 4-seat

Bagerhat Correspondent :

Leaders and activists of the All-Party Joint Committee have surrounded the district election office in Bagerhat, demanding the restoration of four parliamentary seats. Two writ petitions have already been filed in the Supreme Court demanding the restoration of the seats.

On Tuesday (September 16), around 9:30 am, leaders and activists from different Upazilas of the district gathered in front of the District Election Officer’s office with a procession. Then they took up positions around the main gate. At that time, officials and employees of the election office were not seen entering.

The leaders of the All-Party Joint Committee said that the previously announced strike program has been temporarily suspended considering the interests of the Hindu community and the interests of traders. However, the election office siege program will continue. They announced that the street protests and legal battles in the courts will continue until their demands are met.

MA Salam, co-convener of the All-Party Joint Committee and former president of Bagerhat district BNP said, we have postponed the hartal keeping in mind the biggest festival of the Hindu traditional religion, Durga Puja, and the loss to businessmen. However, the siege of the election office we will continue. The siege continued till noon Tuesday and from 9 am to 1 pm on Wednesday.

Sheikh Mohammad Yunus, secretary of Bagerhat district uni of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh and member secretary of the All-Party Joint Committee, said, 2 writs have already been filed, and preparations are underway for more writs. We believe that it will be possible to get justice in the court.

As part of the legal process, Barrister Sheikh Mohammad Zakir Hossain on behalf of the Bagerhat Press Club and District Bar Association and Lawyer Mohammad Akhter Rasul on behalf of former ChitalmariUpazilaParishad Chairman and prospective parliamentarian candidate nominated by IslamiAndolan Bangladesh, Mujibur Rahman Shamim, have filed two separate writ petitions.

The Bangladesh government, the Chief Election Commissioner, the Election Commission Secretary and the Attorney General have been named as respondents. The initial hearing of these writs was already completed.

Incidentally, on the eve of the upcoming 13th National Parliament elections on July 30, the Election Commission made an initial proposal to reduce one of the four constituencies in Bagerhat district to three. Since then, a massive movement has started in the district. Later, on September 4, the Commission slightly changed the boundaries, but in the final gazette, it retained all three constituencies in Bagerhat.

According to the final gazette, Bagerhat-1 (BagerhatSadar-Chitalmari-Mollahat), Bagerhat-2 (Fakirhat-Rampal-Mongla) and Bagerhat-3 (Kachua-Morelganj-Sharankhola) have been formed in the new boundaries. Earlier, there were four seats in Bagerhat for a long time-Bagerhat-1 (Chitalmari-Mollahat-Fakirhat), Bagerhat-2 (BagerhatSadar-Kachua), Bagerhat-3 (Rampal-Mongla) and Bagerhat-4 (Morelganj-Sharankhola).

Leaders of the All-Party Joint Committee told, the Election Commission has decided to reduce the number of seats by one to three, ignoring the demands of the people, which will be detrimental to the political and administrative balance of the district.