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The High Court (HC) on Monday declared illegal an Election Commission (EC) gazette notification that reduced the number of parliamentary constituencies in Bagerhat district from four to three.
It also directed the authorities concerned to reinstate all four constituencies in the district.
The HC bench of Justice Sashanka Shekhar Sarkar and Justice Faysal Hasan Arif delivered the verdict after hearing a previously issued rule on the matter.
Lawyer Sheikh Mohammad Zakir Hossain and others appeared in the court proceedings on behalf of the writ petitioners.
Following a writ petition, the HC on September 16 this year issued the rule asking the respondents to explain why the parliamentary constituencies in Bagerhat should not remain four, and why the Election Commission's gazette notification reducing them to three should not be declared illegal.
The EC Secretary and other relevant authorities were asked to respond to the rule within ten days.
On 4 September, the EC published the final list of re-demarcated boundaries for 300 constituencies through a gazette notification.
Under the new arrangement, EC re-demarcated Bagerhat upazilas into three constituencies, down from the four previously.
Ahead of the 13th parliamentary election, the EC on July 30first proposed reducing Bagerhat's constituencies. However, several political parties rejected the proposal.
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