The Constitution requires the Election to be held under Emergency
One may disputes the interpretaion that uses the word 'require'. However, the constitution does not require for the emergency to be lifted for an election to hold. The constitution leaves the it upto the discretion of the President.
Dr. Kamal and other authors of the constitution may have forgotten what is in the constitution of Bangladesh. So, we start with a quote from the english version of the constitution that is available in the internet. We would request you to specifically read the portion right after the article 141A (2) (c) where it says "Provided that if any such Proclamation is issued at a time when Parliament stands dissolved ......".
The provisions are very clear. If there was no Parliament at the time of declaring Emergency, the Emergency proclamation will stay valid until after 30 days of a new Parliament is re-constituted. Last time we checked, there is only one way to re-constitute the Parliament which is to hold general election. So, in our interpretation, this said general election will have to be held while the Emergency is still in effect. The Emergency will still be in effect even after the election until 30 days passes after the new parliament meets for the first time.
http://www.bangla2000.com/Bangladesh/constitution.html
141A. Proclamation of Emergency
(1) If the President is satisfied that a grave emergency exists in which the security or economic life of Bangladesh, or any part thereof, is threatened by war or external aggression or internal disturbance, he may issue a Proclamation of Emergency:
87* * * * * *
88[Provided that such Proclamation shall require for its validity the prior counter signature of the Prime Minister.]
(2) A Proclamation of Emergency-
(a) may be revoked by a subsequent Proclamation;
(b) shall be laid before Parliament;
(c) shall cease to operate at the expiration of one hundred and twenty days, unless before the expiration of that period it has been approved by a resolution of Parliament:
Provided that if any such Proclamation is issued at a time when Parliament stands dissolved or the dissolution of Parliament takes place during the period of one hundred and twenty days referred to in sub-clause (c), the Proclamation shall cease to operate at the expiration of thirty days from the date on which Parliament first meets after its re-constitution, unless before that expiration of the meets after its re-constitution, unless before that expiration of the said period of thirty days a resolution approving the Proclamation has been passed by Parliament.
It is safe to say that with any country's constitutional provisions, this particular provisions will have many interpretation, based on whom you ask. Whatever the interpretation, in every interpretation, one thing will stand. That is the constitution do not require the Emergency to be lifted. In other words, there is no constitutional bar for the general election to be held under emergency as far as Bangladesh Constitution is concerned. So, if the government chooses to use its discretion to lift the Emergency without constituting a Parliament first, it would be liable for its decision. They will have to make sure that Emergency do have to come back - if there is such a chance, it would be rather well-advised to stay within the Emergency Proclamation until it can have a legimate authority (an elected parliament) to whom power can be handed over. The Law Adviser or the CEC or any body else should be much more careful while talking about lifting Emergency Proclamation, since it seems to be the President's prerogative to decide on the matter, nobody else.
If you thought some of the ideas are worth of your reading time, please forward it to others. If you have an ear to the columinsts in regular traditional media, please forward it to them. If you have an ear to the journalists and news editors of the electronic media, discuss it with them. Hope they would look at the suggestions and give due diligence.
Thanks for your time,
Innovation Line
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Note: This is a freelance column, published mainly in different internet based forums. This column is open for contribution by the members of new generation, sometimes referred to as Gen 71. If you identify yourself as someone from that age-group and want to contribute to this column, please feel free to contact. Thanks to the group moderator for publishing the article.
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