The Election Commission on Wednesday proposed adding a new parliamentary constituency in Gazipur district and reducing one in Bagerhat district ahead of the upcoming 13th national election.
It has also proposed redrawing the boundaries of 42 constituencies.
Election Commissioner Anwarul Islam Sarker shared the information during a briefing with reporters at the EC office in Dhaka's Agargaon in the afternoon.
Currently, Gazipur has five parliamentary seats while Bagerhat has four.
Anwarul also said since Gazipur has the highest number of voters, the technical committee on delimitation recommended adding a seat there.
Conversely, due to a lower number of voters in Bagerhat, the committee recommended reducing one seat from that district, he said.
"About 1,500 applications were submitted to the EC regarding re-demarcation of constituencies," said Anwarul.
"Our technical committee proposed minor and major adjustments in 42 of those applications. Based on their recommendations, we've prepared a proposal."
When asked which constituencies are being rearranged, Anwarul named the following: Panchagarh-1, Panchagarh-2, Rangpur-3, Sirajganj-1, Sirajganj-2, Satkhira-3, Satkhira-4, Khulna-1 to Khulna-6, Shariatpur-2 and Shariatpur-3, Dhaka-2, 3, 7, 10, 14, and 19, Gazipur-1 to Gazipur-3, Gazipur-5 and Gazipur-6, Narayanganj-3, 4, and 5, Sylhet-1 and 3, Brahmanbaria-2 and 3, Cumilla-1, 2, 10, and 11, Noakhali-1, 2, 4, and 5, and Chattogram-7 and 8.
To facilitate the boundary redrawing process, the EC formed a seven-member expert technical committee on July 16.
The committee included EC Systems Manager Md Rafiqul Haque, geographer Md Mostafizur Rahman, cartographer KH Rajimul Karim, IT expert Moshiur Rahman Rimu, urban planner Farhana Ahmed, statistician Hifzur Rahman, and Senior Assistant Secretary Mohammad Delwar Hossain.
The committee submitted its report to the EC on Wednesday.
Regarding the basis for redrawing, Commissioner Anwarul said the committee followed Section 6 of the Delimitation of Constituencies Act 2021, considering administrative structure, geographical integrity, and census data.
He added, "Based on the report of the specialised committee, analysing population and voter data, they proposed reducing one seat in Bagerhat and increasing one in Gazipur."
Anwarul said the proposal will soon be published in the form of a gazette, pending commission approval.
When asked about the time limit for resolving objections related to the re-demarcation, Anwarul said any objections, additions, removals, or corrections must be submitted by August 10.
EC's Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed was also present at the briefing.
