Saturday, March 14, 2009

Bangladesh Promulgation of 1962 Constitution

1 Promulgation of 1962 Constitution.
Until 1962, martial law continued and Field Marshal Muhammad Ayub Khan purged a number of politicians and civil servants from the government and replaced them with army officers.

The Revolutionary Government, after due deliberation, promulgated a Constitution which came into force on the 1st March 1962. This Constitution provides that an Electoral College shall be elected on the basis of adult franchise, each member of the College representing a specified territorial electoral unit. The number of units shall not be less than 40,000 in each Province, the exact number being subject to fixation by law, provided that the number of electoral units in each Province shall be the same. The College shall then elect the President and Members of the National and Provincial Assemblies by the method of a single non-transferable vote.


2 The Philosophy of the system of Basic Democracies.
The Philosophy of the system of Basic Democracies, as explained by the Government, was that Pakistan, like other Linda-developed countries, presented a special problem for the satisfactory working of democracy; as, it was difficult to communicate with the mass of the voters, and to present to them the personalities and the issues for whom and upon which they were invited

The Constitution was announced on the 1st March 1962 and it was to come into force on the day on which the first meeting of the National Assembly was to be held. The Election Commission, for the purpose of the 1962 general elections, was constituted on l0th March, 1962 and continued till 30th June 1962. The elections in 1962 were held, soon after the promulgation of the Constitution under the provisions of Articles 228 and 229. As the term of the office of President was due to expire on the 22nd day of March, 1965, and the proceedings of the Presidential election under the Constitution were required to be commenced within 120 days immediately preceding the day on which the term of the sitting President was due to expire, it was obligatory that the Electoral College should be constituted before the 22nd November, 1964. Then first elections to Basic Democracies having been held in 1959, a general election for these bodies was due in 1964.

As the Basic Democrats form the Electoral College under the provisions of the 1962 Constitution, the Chief Election Commissioner was required to hold the elections to the Electoral College before the Commission could proceed to conduct the Presidential and Assembly elections.

The Presidential election was held on the 2nd January 1965 at which 79,700 electors, out of a total of 80,000, cast the votes at which Field Marshal Muhammad Ayub Khan got 63.31 per cent voles.
The polls in respect of the National Assembly and the Provincial Assemblies elections were taken on 21 March 1965 and 16th May 1965 respectively.

3 Some Consequences
In 1948 there were 11 textile mills in the east wing and only 9 in the west.
• In 1971 there were 26 in the East as opposed to 10 in the West wing.
• Hast Pakistan's economy transformed from a surplus on to a deficit one.

Bangladesh is now a sovereign state in the world and has achieved independence through nine-month liberation war with the rulers of the western part of Pakistan.

Amalgamation of four provinces of West Pakistan.
To look back, in 1956 the four provinces of the then West Pakistan were amalgamated into one administrative unit. The national Parliament was to consist of one house of 300 members with equal representation from both the west and east wings.

In September 1956 Awami League Chief Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy became Prime Minister and formed a coalition cabinet. He could not secure significant support from West Pakistan power brokers. Suhrawardy's thirteen months in office came to an end after he took a strong position against abrogation of the existing "One Unit' government for all of West Pakistan. In 1957 the President used his considerable influence to oust Suhrawardy from the office of Prime Minister. The drift towards economic decline and political dittos continued.

However with the passage of lime the President Field Marshal Ayub Khan arrested Sheikh Mujibur Rahman of Awami League including many remarkable citizens on charges of Agartala conspiracy, which is termed as an attempt for separation of East Pakistan from the western part of the country. The trial of the case also started. But the people of East Pakistan began to realize that the rulers of the western wing were trying to snatch the political and economic rights of the people of East Pakistan.

As a matter of fact, in creating the overwhelming mass upsurge in favour of the 6-point programme in the late sixties in face of extreme repression and intimidation let loose by the Ayub regime, in toppling his rule and freeing Sheikh Mujib from the Agartala Conspiracy Case and later, in giving the Awami League-a historic victory in the general election, the works and students of Bangladesh played the most decisive role.

Several photographs were taken when the Agartala Conspiracy case was withdrawn and Sheikh Mujibur Raman was released by the ruling Pakistani Government. At that time the political leaders began to meet Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to see his conditions.

Next day after release from Agartala Conspiracy Cast Sheikh Mujibur Rahman went in Karachi to attend Round Table Conference, Before departure Sheikh Mujibur Rahman went to Santosh, Tangail to see Montana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani. NAP Leader who loved the former.

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